1 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

Ex  Lihris 

SIR  MICHAEL  SADLER 

ACQUIRED  1948 

WITH  THE  HELP  OF  ALUMNI  OF  THE 

SCHOOL  OF  EDUCATION 


^ 


1 


ROGER  ASCHAM    AXD   LADY  JANE  GREY 


H 


HISTOM  OF  MODERN  EDUCATION 


AN    ACCOUNT   OF   THE 


COURSE  OF  EDUCATIONAL  OPINION  AND   PRACTICE    FROM 
THE  REVIVAL  OF  LEARNING  TO  THE  PRESENT  DECADE 


SAMUEL  G.  WILLIAMS,  Ph.D. 


Late  Professor  of  the  Science  aud  Art  of  Teaching  in  Cornell  University 


foxjrxh:  edition 


SYRACUSE,     N.     Y. 

C.    W.    BARDEEN,    PUBLISHER 

1903 


Copyright,  1892,  1896,  by  C.  W.  Bardeen 


PRIMTFn  IN  \i.  3, 


PREFACE 


This  book  has  grown  out  of  the  lectures  given  by 
the  author  in  Cornell  University  during  the  past  six 
years,  and  it  comprises  the  last  half  of  his  course  on 
the  history  of  education.  There  should  be  a  place, 
not  only  amongst  teachers,  but  also  in  a  very  consid- 
erable class  of  enlightened  friends  of  education,  for  a 
work  depicting  in  a  moderate  compass  the  rise  and 
development  of  modern  methods  of  instruction,  the 
growth  of  educational  systems  and  organizations,  and 
the  course  of  modern  ideas  of  education  as  revealed 
in  the  works  of  representative  men.  Though  much 
that  may  1)0  given  in  such  a  work  naturally  has  its 
important  forerunners  in  far  earlier  ages,  still  the 
course  of  educational  events  since  the  revival  of 
learning  in  the  loth  century,  has  in  itself  sucli  a 
degree  of  self-dependence  as  adai)ts  it  for  separate 
treatment.  Besides,  it  is  ])robable  that  many  per- 
sons who  would  be  eager  to  know  the  more  recent 
precursors  of  the  present  condition  of  education, 
would  be  less  interested  in  ancient  and  mediaeval 
methods  and  means  of  instruction,  or  in  the  ideas 
of  education  expressed  by  ancient  sages  ;  at  least 
until  a  knowledge  of  later  educational  history  should 
have  excited  in  them  the  desire  for  an  acquaintance 
with  tlie  fathers  of  educational  efforts  and  thought. 
With  this  view  this  book  is  offered  to  the  public. 

(iii) 

817116 


IV  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

The  chief  difficulty  in  its  preparation  has  arisen 
from  the  abundance  and  complexity  of  the  materials 
that  have  been  presented.  An  attempt  has  been 
made,  by  a  careful  selection  of  truly  representative 
facts  and  personages,  by  a  rigid  exclusion  of  all  other 
matters  however  intrinsically  interesting,  and  by 
treating  the  several  centuries  from  the  standpoint 
of  what  in  them  seemed  most  characteristic,  to  con- 
struct a  narrative  which  should  be  truthful  and 
perspicuous  without  being  unduly  bulky.  The 
reader  will  judge  how  far  this  attempt  has  been 
successful. 

The  works  to  which  the  author  has  been  specially 
indebted  have  been  so  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
following  pages  that  it  seems  needless  to  enumerate 
them  here. 

A  question  by  a  judicious  friend  with  regard  to 
the  statement  on  page  107  of  the  amount  of  Mul- 
caster's  salary,  called  attention  to  the  need  of  a  re- 
mark on  the  relative  purchase  power  of  money  in 
the  16th  century  and  at  present,  when  it  was  too  late 
to  introduce  it  in  the  proper  place.  Mr.  Thorold 
Rogers,  who  is  a  good  authority  in  such  matters, 
gives  the  ratio  of  about  12  to  1  as  holding  good 
between  1480  and  the  last  third  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. Hence,  as  some  decrease  of  purchase  power 
had  occurred  before  Mulcaster's  time,  the  ratio  10 
to  1  has  been  assumed  as  approximately  correct. 

Ithaca,  July,  1892, 


PREFACE  TO  THE  PvEVISED  EDITION 


The  author  has  taken  advantage  of  the  call  for  a 
new  edition  of  this  book,  not  only  to  eliminate  as 
far  as  possible  typographic  errors,  but  also  to  make 
some  changes  called  for  by  changes  of  circum- 
stances and  a  number  of  additions  of  new  matter. 
Much  the  most  important  of  these  additions  is  that 
of  an  introductory  chapter  giving  a  concise  view  of 
the  valuable  contributions  to  pedagogy  made  by  the 
ancient  world,  and  the  analysis  of  the  entire  work 
which  appears  as  an  appendix,  and  which  will  prob- 
ably be  found  helpful  by  students. 

The  matter  of  chapter  xv  of  the  first  edition  has 
been  broken  up  into  seven  chapters  with  consider- 
able additions.  Especially  the  several  allusions  to 
Froebel  which  appeared  in  that  edition,  have  been 
supplemented  by  a  chapter  devoted  to  him,  to  his 
work,  and  to  his  fundamental  ideas. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  book  in  its  new 
dress  will  more  completely  justify  the  kindly  recep- 
tion with  which  it  was  greeted  on  its  first  apjjearance. 

Ithaca,   Oct  6,  1S96. 

(V) 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTORY    CHAPTER 

PAGES 

Valuable  Contributions  to  Pedagogy  from  Ancient 

Days ix-xxv 

CHAPTER  I 
Preliminaries  op  Modern  Education. — Sketch  of  An- 
cient Education — Medinevul  ]\Ioslem  learning — Mediae- 
val culture  of  the  Byzantines — Mediteval  universities 
of  Europe,  their  studies  and  methods — Precursors  of 
the  Renaissance 9-23 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Renaissance  and  Some  Interesting  Phases  op 
Education  in  the  16th  Century. — Effect  of  Geo- 
graphic discoveries  and  the  growth  of  modern  lan- 
guages— Effects  of  the  revival  of  learning  north  and 
south  of  the  Alps — The  Renaissance  has  the  charac- 
ter of  a  classic  revival — Great  extension  of  middle- 
class  education  in  England  and  Germany — School 
training  regarded  somewhat  as  a  preparation  for  life 
— Origin  of  idea  of  universal  and  compulsory  educa- 
tion       23-48 

CHAPTER   III 
Educational  Opinions  op  the  16tii  Century. — Martin 
Luther — Erasmus — Vi  ves — Ramus —  Rabelais  —  Mon- 
taigne      49-90 

CHAPTER  IV 
Distinguished  Teachers  of  the  16th  Century. — Mel- 
anchthou — ^Sturm — Trotzendorf — Nean  ler — Ascham 
— Mulcaster— The  Jesuits 91-117 

CHAPTER  V 
Some  CiiARACTERrsTics  of  Education  in  the  17tii  Cen- 
tury.— Predominance  of  Latin  for  utilitarian  ends — 
Influence  of  eeclesiasticism  in  education — Influence 
of  the  ])liilosophers  in  education — Bacon — Descartes 

— Fleury — Efforts  of  educational  reformers 1  'y-i;j7 

(vi) 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS  Vll 

TAOES 

CHAPTER  VI 
Principles  op  the  Educational,  Reformers  — Ob- 
stacles to  their  rapid  acceptance i;59-153 

CHAPTER  VII 
The  17th  Century  Reformers  — Wolf2:ang  Raticli- 
John  Amos  Comenius  and  his  works — The  Port  Royal- 
ists—Milton—Locke   154-219 

CHAPTER  VHI 
Female  Education  and  Fenelon. — St.  Jerome  and  con- 
ventual education — Port  Royalists — Mme.   de  ]\Iaii.- 
tenon — Fenelon — Pedagogic  works   and   opinions  of 

Fenelon 220-241 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Oratory  of  Jesus,  and  Beginning  of  American 
Education. — The  Oratory  in  France — Bernard  Lamy 
— Thomassin — Early  American  efforts — Founding  of 
William  and  IVIary  college — New  York — New  Eng- 
land— Early  Harvard — First  school  laws  of  Massa- 
chusetts—State of  education  in  England,   France, 

Germany,  and  Scotland 242-256 

CHAPTER  X 
Characteristics  op  Education  in  the  ISth  Century 
— Pietistic    movement    and    Francke — Real    school 
movement — Professional   training  of  teatdiers — Rise 
of  modern  university  spirit — Rise  of  new  Humanism. 257-280 
CHAPTER  XI 
Important  Educational  Treatises  op  the  18th  Cen- 
tury.— Rollin's  Traite  des  Etudes — Rousseau's  fimile 

—Kant 281-317 

CHAPTER  XII 
Basedow  and  the  Philantiiropinic  Experiment.  . .  .318-329 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Pestalozzi    and  His  Work. — Neuhof — Leonard    and 
Gertrude — Stanz — Burgdorf — Yverdun  and  his  Insti- 
tution— Fundamental  principles 330-349 

CHAPTER  XIV 
General  Review  op  Education  in  the   18th   Cen- 
tury. — England —  France — Austria — Felbiger — Kin- 


Vm  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAGES 

nermann — Germany — Prussia — von  Rochow  — New 
England— Early  text-books— New  York— Colleges 
of  the  18th  century— University  of  the  State  of  New 
York 350-365 

CHARTER  XV 
Educational  Characteristics  op  the  19th  Century. 
— Great  activity  in  literature,  etc. — Herbart — Her- 
bert Spencer's  "Education " 366-387 

CHAPTER  XVI 
Extension  op  Popular  Education. — Belongs  to  19tli 
Century — Illustrated  by  New  York — Compulsory  at- 
tendance  388-395 

CHAPTER  XVII 
Froebel  and  the  Kindergarten. — Sketch  of  his  life 

— His  pedagogic  principles — The  Kindergarten 396-405 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
Professional  Preparation  op  Teachers  and  School 
Supervision. — Spread  of  Teachers'   Seminaries  ia 
Europe — Training    classes — Teachers'    Institutes — 
Normal  schools  and  Horace  Mann — Supervision 406-416 

CHAPTER  XIX 
Manual  and  Industrial  Training. — Sketch  of  growth 
of  the  idea — Comenius — Petty — Locke  and  Rousseau 
— Kindermann — Pestalozzi — Froebel — France 417-423 

CHAPTER  XX 
Improvements  in  Methods  op  Instruction. — Causes  of 
rapid  spread  in  19th  Century — Vernacular — Labora- 
tory   methods — Language   methods — Jacotot — Froe- 
bel  424-433 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Discussion  op  Relative  Value  of  Studies. — Oppos- 
ing views — Change  in  point  of  view — Sir  Wm.  Ham- 
ilton— German  struggles  for  Real  Schools — Paulsen's 
prophecy  of  future  of  studies— An  Index  of  the 
Humanitarian  idea — General  view 435-443 

Analytic  Appendix 445-463 

Syllabus  on  History  of  Education 455-468 

Index 469-481 


..   INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

VALUABLE  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  PEDAGOGY  FROM 
ANCIENT  DAYS 

The  student  of  modern  education  will  naturally 
inquire  what  valuable,  pedagogic  legacies  have  been 
bequeathed  to  us  by  the  ancient  culture  nations,  in 
methods  or  in  means,  in  forms  of  organization  or  in 
theories  of  education.  The  answer  to  this  question 
will  do  much  to  orient  us  aright  for  the  study  of 
the  more  recent  past,  Ijy  giving  us  a  birds-eye  view 
of  the  more  important  facts  in  the  history  of  ancient 
education.  It  will  be  seen  that  ancient  nations  had 
their  ideals  of  what  life  meant  to  them,  and  strove 
to  realize  these  by  the  training  given  to  their  chil- 
dren ;  that  they  cultivated  with  success  several 
branches  of  learning  that  we  still  value ;  that  they 
devised  methods  of  seeking  and  imj^arting  truth 
that  are  still  in  constant  use ;  that  one  ancient 
nation  developed  the  idea  of  liberal  culture  to  an 
university  extent,  whilst  another  devised  a  complete 
and  progressive  scheme  of  organization ;  and  that 
not  a  few  of  the  most  famous  men  of  ancient  days 
have  left  for  us  educational  ideas  of  perennial  inter- 
est and  value. 

(ix) 


X  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

I.  And  first  of  all,  it  hardly  admits  of  doubt  that 
the  ideas  of  life,  of  duty,  and  of  destiny  from  which 
schemes  of  education  unconsciously  spring,  have  a 
supreme  importance  in  educational  history.  These 
ideas  have  but  two  possible  centres,  the  individual 
and  the  state  ;  and  we  are  at  once  confronted  by  the 
fact  that  no  ancient  people  ever  got  beyond  the  con- 
ception of  the  state  as  the  matter  of  chief  concern, 
and  the  useful  citizen  as  the  highest  product  of  edu- 
cation. It  is  true  that  Aristotle  sees  that  "the 
virtue  of  the  good  citizen  and  good  governor  is  the 
same  as  that  of  a  good  man ; "  yet  he  thinks  it 
"evident  that  education  should  be  one  and  the 
same  in  all  states,"  and  praises  the  Spartan  system 
in  which  the  individual  was  completely  merged  in 
the  state.  Even  the  Hebrew  theocracy  will  hardly 
form  a  valid  exception  to  the  dominance  of  the 
national  ideal  amongst  the  ancient  states,  so  promi- 
nent and  exclusive  was  the  national  feeling  in  all 
periods  of  its  history. 

Hence  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  antiquity  has 
exhibited  for  our  instruction  the  working  and  the 
results  of  all  conceivable  forms  of  national  aims 
that  can  inspire  states  in  the  education  of  their 
youth. 

Of  that  type  which  Rosenkranz — so  well  known 
through  his  "  Philosophy  of  Education  " — calls  the 
Passive  National  type,  three  forms  still  exist  tliat 
have  come  down  to  us  from  a  remote  antiquity, 


PEDAflOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XI 

amongst  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos,  and  the  Bud- 
dhists. In  China  this  type  has  a  family  or  ancestral 
form,  and  is  inspired  by  the  idea  of  a  worship  of 
ancestors  and  a  reverence  for  antiquity,  by  which, 
like  flics  in  amber,  the  nation  has  been  preserved 
unchanged  and  unprogressive  for  untold  centuries, 
— owing  its  preservation  quite  as  much  to  its  un- 
wavering adherence  to  one  fixed  idea,  as  to  its  iso- 
lation and  to  the  great  rewards  offered  by  a  paternal 
government  to  high  attainments  in  the  kind  of 
learning  dictated  by  its  ideal.  That  the  caste  sys- 
tem of  India  and  the  monastic  tendency  of  unal- 
loyed Buddhism  both  lead  to  quietism  and  to  the 
extinction  of  all  manly  endeavor,  is  a  fact  which  is 
of  interest  merely  because  of  the  unnumbered  mil- 
lions that  liave  been  influenced  thereby. 

Of  all  the  forms  of  national  education  inspired 
by  active  ideals,  the  lowest  doubtless  was  the  Phoe- 
nician, industrial  in  character,  and  training  for  the 
restless  enterprises  of  a  tricky  and  conscienceless 
commerce  ;  whilst  far  the  most  respectable  was  the 
Egyptian  efi^ort,  prompted  by  the  belief  in  a  right- 
eous retribution  after  death,  to  train  for  the  blame- 
less immortality  typified  by  emlialment.  The  former, 
by  the  vices  which  it  generated,  led  to  the  total 
destruction  of  the  race,  as  was  foretold  b}^  the  prophet 
Ezekiel,* — its  cities  became  desolate,  its  very  lan- 
guage  was   forgotten,    and    its   memory   has  been 

*  Chapters  26th,  27th  and  28th. 


xil  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

preserved  chiefly  by  the  arts  that  it  casually  dis- 
seminated in  its  trading  expeditions ;  whilst  the 
Egyptian  ideal,  disfigured  though  it  was  in  the 
popular  apprehension  by  many  gross  superstitions, 
raised  a  great  nation  through  a  career  of  more  than 
thirty  centuries  to  a  high  state  of  civilization,  and 
left  it  finally  to  slow  decay  only  when  it  had  ceased 
to  be  a  vital  influence  in  the  national  life. 

The  national  education  which  looked  chiefly  to  a 
preparation  for  external  conquest,  like  that  of  Persia 
and  Sparta,  though  inspired  in  the  former  by  an 
elevated  religious  idea  of  life  as  a  struggle  of  good 
with  evil,  long  ago  taught 
Aristotle  the  lesson  which 
is  valid  for  all  ages,  of  the 
folly  of  those  nations  which 
in  training  for  war  lose 
sight  of  the  ability  to 
enjoy  peace  and  leisure 
with  dignity. 

The    Athenian    idea    of 

,i  rn  !•       1  +•  „         ARISTOTLE,  384-383,  B.C. 

the  onice  or  education  was 

doubtless  the  noblest  that  the  ancient  world  has  trans- 
mitted to  us.  It  was  to  form  a  perfect  body,  and 
to  insure  that  its  spiritual  tenant  should  be  a  soul 
completely  fitted  for  the  duties  and  enjoyments  of 
citizenship  in  Athens, — ready,  in  the  sonorous  lan- 
guage of  Milton,  "  to  perform  justly,  skilfully,  and 
magnanimously  all  the  ofiices  both  private  and  pub- 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS 


xni 


lie  of  i^eace  and  war."  It  bore  quick  fruits,  wliicli, 
thougli  short-lived  for  national  elevation,  were  yet 
brilliant  and  enduring  for  literature  and  art.  That 
its  meteor-like  culmination  should  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  ages  of  dreary  and  unbroken  spiritual 
barrenness,  forcibly  suggests  the  insufficiency  of 
even  the  highest  type  of  national  ideal  to  assure  the 
steady  progress  which  is  the  real  life  of  nations  as 
of  men.  It  needed  for  its  perfection  something 
which  could  be  supplied  only  by  the  modern  Chris- 
tian conception  of  the  independent  worth  and  im- 
mortal destiny  of  the  human  personality. 

Education  in  Rome,  during  all  periods  of  her 
history,  was  governed  by  the  idea  of  mere  practical 
utility  in  the  state.  Hence  disinterested  studies 
never  struck  deep  roots  in  her  soil.  Even  with 
Cicero  and  Seneca,  philoso- 
phy was  little  better  than 
a  superficial  imitation  of  a 
Greek  example.  All  was 
intensely  utilitarian.  Ge- 
ometry, for  example,  was 
merely  an  art  useful  for 
land  measurement  and  for 
military  purposes.  Rheto- 
ric was  the  art  of  the 
orator  by  which  he  might  gain  influence  in  public 
affairs.  The  results  of  such  a  materialistic  concep- 
tion of  education  on  national  life  in  Rome,  afford 


SENECA,  3  B.C.-65,  A.D. 


Xiv  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

US  a  striking  lesson,  of  which  every  age  experiences 
the  need — since  selfish  interests  lie  so  near  to  the 
surface  in  every  age — of  the  greatest  heights  to 
which  such  an  education  can  hope  to  attain,  and  of 
the  hase  depths  to  which  it  is  likely  ultimately  to 
tend. 

The  Theocratic  idea  held  by  the  Hebrews,  of  a 
nation  governed  by  the  revealed  will  of  God,  incul- 
cated by  a  correspondent  education  and  emphasized 
by  striking  symbols  and  recurring  national  festivals, 
has  for  us  a  two-fold  interest,  since  it  was  a  prepara- 
tive for  the  Christian  conception  of  individual 
worth,  and  also  since  it  affords  an  interesting  exam- 
ple of  the  power  of  an  ideal  firmly  held,  to  preserve 
national  traits  unchanged,  even  through  ages  of 
oppression  and  dispersion. 

The  experimental  test  which  the  ancient  world 
has  furnished  us  of  the  various  possible  forms  of 
national  ideal,  is  of  special  value  to  the  modern 
educator.  So  many  national  fates  are  finger-posts, 
as  it  were,  to  warn  him  against  dangerous  routes 
which  weak  and  errant  human  nature  is  but  too  apt 
to  take.  Its  supreme  benefit,  however,  will  be  gained 
only  when  by  contrast  it  makes  clear  the  excellence 
of  the  individual  ideal,  which  sees  the  aim  of  educa- 
tion in  the  perfection  of  the  human  personality,  on 
the  moral  even  more  than  on  the  intellectual  side ; 
which  sees  in  this  effort  for  individual  perfection 
the  only  sure  means  for  social  and  political  eleva- 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XV 

tion ;  and  which,  to  this  end,  is  prompting  to  the 
careful  study  of  tlio  individual  child  that  is  so 
prominent  a  feature  of  modern  pedagogy. 

II.  The  ancient  world  has  bequeathed  to  modern 
pedagogy,  in  a  more  or  less  complete  form,  many  of 
the  branches  of  learning  which  it  uses  as  means  of 
education.  Not  to  speak  of  the  important  device 
of  a  phonic  alphabet  with  all  which  it  implies : — 
it  has  demonstrated  in  Athens  the  efficacy  in  educa- 
tion of  familiarity  with  a  vernacular  literature, — a 
lesson  that  modern  peoples  have  been  slow  to  learn  ; 
kas  developed  a  science  of  Grammar ;  has  pushed 
to  a  good  degree  of  completeness  Rhetoric,  formal 
Logic,  and  Geometry ;  has  devised  the  elementary 
operations  with  numbers,  yet, — save  in  the  case  of 
the  Hindoos — without  inventing  any  convenient 
system  of  notation  ;  has  emphasized  the  importance 
of  Music  and  done  something  for  its  theory ;  has 
given  us  at  least  the  beginnings  of  Geography  and 
Astronomy  ;  and  has  left  works  of  acknowdedged 
value  in  Philosophy,  in  Medicine,  and  in  Jurispru- 
dence. Besides  this,  two  of  its  peoples  have  left  to 
us  a  very  rich  and  valuable  literature,  which,  during 
a  large  part  of  the  last  five  centuries,  has  been  well- 
nigh  the  sole  means  for  training  the  young,  which 
is  still  very  widely  used  for  this  purpose,  and  which 
seems  destined  long  to  be  so  used  by  enlightened 
nations,  though  possibly  in  somewhat  smaller 
measure. 


XVI  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

III.  Furthermore,  we  have  received  from  some  of 
the  ancient  nations  valuable  suggestions  of  expedi- 
ents for  presenting  subjects  to  immature  minds,  as 
well  as  exemplifications  of  methods  of  a  higher  and 
more  scientific  character.  Thus  both  China  and 
Egypt  early  invented  the  abacus  to  facilitate  opera- 
tions in  numbers.  Plato,  in  the  "  Laws,"  commends 
the  Egyptian  use  of  objective  methods  in  certain 
subjects,  and  Quintilian  strongly  urges  such  meth- 
ods and  illustrates  their  use  in  teaching  reading 
and  writing.  The  name  and  fame  of  Socrates  are 
imperishably  associated 
with  an  inductive  and  de- 
veloping method  which,  in 
one  of  its  phases,  is  of  sin- 
gular pedagogic  excellence. 
Aristotle's  method  of  assur- 
ing the  formal  validity  of 
deductive  reasoning  has 
profoundly  influenced  the 

T       .         f.     n   1    ,  T  SOCRATES,  470-399,  B.C. 

logic  01  all  later  ages  ;  and 

it  is  well  also  to  remember  that  his  method  of 
observing  and  interpreting  nature,  however  incom- 
plete it  may  have  been,  preceded  by  many  cen- 
turies Bacon's  exposition  and  enforcement  of  the 
inductive  process.  Quintilian's  mode  of  presenting 
rhetoric  in  its  practical  aspects  has  never  been 
greatly  excelled  ;  and  the  teachings  of  Jesus, 
though  linked  with  our   deepest  and  most  sacred 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XVll 

associations,  as  those  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world, 
may  profitably  be  made  a  pedagogic  study,  as  un- 
equalled models  for  the  illustration  of  the  most  pro- 
found truths  by  the  most  ftimiliar  facts. 

IV.  Though  Greece,  beginning  with  the  sophists 
and  the  philosophers,  may  claim  to  have  given  to 
the  world  the  germinal  idea  of  higher  training, 
and  to  have  wrought  it  out  in  a  university  of  long 
continued  celebrity,  under  the  name  of  "  The  Schools 
of  Athens,"  yet  we  owe  to  the  Roman  instinct  of 
organization,  as  one  might  expect,  the  only  good 
ancient  example  of  a  consistent  school  system,  ad- 
vancing by  successive  steps  from  the  elements  to 
specialties.  This  system  was  a  spontaneous  out- 
growth of  popular  needs  rather  than  an  organiza- 
tion devised  of  set  purjDose  by  the  ruling  powers ; 
and  it  received  its  first  governmental  recognition 
only  when  it  had  already  grown  into  a  somewhat 
definite  system  consisting  of  lower  and  higher  ele- 
mentary schools,  succeeded  b}^  schools  of  Rhetoric, 
and  crowned  by  schools  of  Philosophy,  of  Law, 
and  possibly  also  of  Medicine.  Its  resemblance  to 
good  modern  systems  is  very  interesting,  as  is  also 
the  direction  of  the  imperial  encouragement  which 
was  always  confined  to  the  schools  of  Rhetoric,  a 
member  of  the  system  that  answers  nearly  to  the 
American  college.  The  growth  of  modern  systems, 
which  have  eventually  assumed  the  general  form  of 
the  Roman,  has  been  from  above  downward,  first 


XVlll        THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  universities  and  secondary  schools,  succeeded, — 
usually  much  later, — by  an  expansion  of  the  ele- 
mentary schools,  which  have  had  their  most  rapid 
growth  during  the  current  century,  as  will  be  shown 
in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  this  book. 

V.  Athens  has  left  us  an  example  hitherto  un- 
equalled of  what  may  be  accomplished  in  the 
physical  and  aesthetic  training  of  an  entire  nation, 
that  is  of  very  considerable  importance.  One  mod- 
ern nation,  Germany,  has  already  accomplished 
much  in  general  physical  culture  by  systematic  in- 
struction, while  others, — whether  wisely  or  not — 
have  remitted  this  to  the  sportive  efforts  of  youth  ; 
but  of  general  success  in  aesthetic  culture  little  of 
encouraging  character  can  be  said.  Some  j)ortion 
of  the  Athenian  superiority  in  matters  of  taste  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  special  endowment  of  the 
race,  but  much  more  to  the  possibility  of  a  ftir  more 
exclusive  preoccupation  with  such  things  than  is 
permitted  by  the  demands  of  our  more  complicated 
modern  forms  of  life.  Yet  in  any  case,  the  value 
of  the  Athenian  example  is  great  as  showing  what 
may  be  attained  in  aesthetic  culture  under  favorable 
circumstances  and  by  the  use  of  proper  means  ;  and 
the  influence  of  this  example  is  likely  to  increase 
rather  than  to  grow  less,  as  advancing  civilization 
brings  with  it  the  opportunity  and  the  need  of 
widening  the  circle  of  refinement. 

VI.  Finally  let  us  take  account  of  the  educational 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS 


XIX 


ideas  expressed  by  men  of  the  ancient  world,  which, 
whether  from  their  intrinsic  worth  thongh  only 
individnall}^  emphasized,  or  from  a  general  agree- 
ment amongst  theorists,  are  important  to  be  ele- 
vated here  into  distinct  view  as  valuable  ancient 
contributions  to  pedagogic  theory. 

(1)  Plato  and  Aristotle,  influenced  probably  by 
Spartan  example,  agree  that,  contrary  to  Athenian 
practice,  education  should  be  made  an  affair  of  the 
state,  and  should  be  established  and  encouraged  by 
the  state  as  essential  to  the  well-being  and  per- 
petuity  of  the  state ;  and 
Plato  even  proposed  that  it 
should  be  made  compul- 
sory for  all  youth  of  both 
sexes  between  the  ages  of 
ten  and  sixteen.  In  our 
days,  when  nations  are  but 
recently  assuming  these 
duties,  it  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  the  two  greatest 
philosophers  of  antiquity  distinctly  affirmed  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  state  to  educate  ;  and  that  one 
of  them  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  should  not  be  left  to  depend  on 
the  ignorance  or  neglect  of  parents,  nor  on  the  un- 
reasoning caprice  of  children. 

(2)  The  idea  that  there  is  a  progressive  order  of 
development  to  which  all  human  beings  conform  in 


PLATO,  429-247,  B.C. 


XX  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION   " 

their  advance  from  infancy  to  maturity,  is  affirmed 
by  Aristotle,  the  order  that  he  gives  being  first  the 
body  and  the  feehngs,  and  next  the  intelligence ; 
and  he  declares  that  the  body  and  the  feelings  need 
the  earliest  training  and  habituation, — ^the  body  for 
the  sake  of  the  soul  as  a  whole,  and  the  feelings  for 
the  sake  of  the  intelligence.*  How  important  this 
study  of  the  order  of  development  of  capabilities 
is  becoming  in  the  modern  science  of  education, 
how  ingenious  are  the  attempts  that  are  made  to 
correlate  it  with  the  order  of  development  of  our 
race,  and  with  what  admirable  minuteness  of  re- 
search it  is  coming  to  be  prosecuted  in  the  study  of 
the  early  years  of  childhood,  are  facts  well  known 
to  all  well-instructed  educators.  It  is  interesting 
therefore  to  see  that  this  important  idea  was  appre- 
hended, even  though  dimly,  and  expressed,  even 
though  with  vague  generality,  by  the  father  of  logic. 
(3)  Tlie  ancient  authors  agree  in  emphasizing  the 
importance  in  early  training  of  songs  and  narra- 
tions of  heroic  actions,  and  of  familiarizing  youth 
with  the  best  stores  of  their  country's  literature. 
This  idea  was  wise,  not  merely  for  ancient  times 
wlien  the  subjects  for  study  were  few,  but  is  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  equally  wise  to-day,  when  many 
subjects  are  clamoring  for  recognition  in  our  schools  i 
and,  in  the  most  influential  quarters,  we  hear  it  de- 
clared that  our  vernacular  literatures  should  be  the 

*  Politics,  Bk.  VII.,  Chap.  XV, 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XXI 

last  things  to  be  neglected  in  the  education  of  the 
young,  even  if  a  diminished  share  of  attention  to 
ancient  literature  be  thereby  made  imperative. 

(4)  There  is  a  consensus  of  opinion  among  the 
ancient  theorists,  as  regards  the  permanency  of  the 
impressions  early  made  upon  the  minds  of  children, 
and  the  consequent  importance  of  controlling  such 
early  impressions.  Hence  they  concur  in  urging 
extreme  care  in  the  choice  of  nurses,  attendants, 
and  companions,  that  the  language  as  well  as  the 
morals  of  the  young  may  be  moulded  into  desirable 
forms  by  early  habituation,  and  that  no  evil  sug- 
gestions may  contaminate  their  souls  nor  evil  ac- 
tions become  familiar  to  their  experience.  Hence 
also  the  emphasis  that  is  laid,  especially  by  Plato, 
on  the  careful  selection  of  the  examples  with  which 
the  charms  of  poetry  enchant  the  young  in  heroic 
songs  and  poetic  narrations  :  Plato  even  proposes  in 
the  "  Republic  "  to  expurgate  the  poems  of  Homer 
for  educational  use.  The  vital  importance  of  the 
impressions  made  on  the  plastic  minds  of  the  young 
has  long  since  become  an  educational  common- 
place ;  yet  it  is  by  no  means  sure  that  greater  care 
is  exercised  to-day  in  controlling  such  impressions 
than  was  urged  by  Plato  and  Quintilian.  If  not, 
then  one  of  the  most  valuable  lessons  that  the 
ancient  sages  have  emphasized,  has  not  yet  been 
sufficiently  heeded. 

(5)  The  dignity  and  importance  of  the  teacher's 


XXll         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

vocation  was  pretty  generally  conceded  by  the 
ancient  peoples.  The  Chinese  and  the  Hebrews  em- 
phatically affirmed  it.  The  Hindoos  and  the  Egyp- 
tians tacitly  assumed  it  by  committing  its  duties, 
the  one  to  their  highest  caste,  the  other  to  the  sacred 
order  of  the  priesthood.  In  Atnens,  though  the 
lower  teachers  were  lightly  esteemed,  as  being  men 
of  small  attainments,  the  higher  and  more  learned 
were  held  in  honor ;  Plato  deemed  the  direction  of 
education  the  highest  of  the  chief  offices  of  the 
state,  and  thought  with  Socrates  that  the  services  of 
the  teacher  were  too  precious  to  be  repaid  by  money, 
and  were  degraded  by  such  a  payment ;  and  the 
wisest  philosophers  undertook  the  instruction  of 
young  men.  In  Rome  as  in  Greece,  many  of  the 
inferior  teachers  were  held  in  a  low  esteem,  which 
they  seem  to  have  deserved  by  their  character  and 
the  meanness  of  their  learning, — as  we  may  judge 
by  the  account  of  them  given  by  Plutarch.  Indeed 
not  a  few  of  them  were  slaves  and  thus  added  to 
the  low  repute  of  the  vocation.  The  really  able 
and  worthy  teachers,  however,  were  respected,  were 
often  richly  compensated,  and  received  special  hon- 
ors, privileges,  and  exemptions  from  the  state.  No 
one  has  surpassed  Quintiliau,  himself  an  honored 
teacher,  in  his  high  estimate  of  the  qualifications  of 
the  teacher  and  of  the  nobility  of  his  work  ;  while 
Seneca  draws  an  attractive  picture  of  the  relations 
that  should  exist  between  teachers  and  their  j^u])ils. 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XXlll 

It  appears  therefore  that  among  the  ancient  culture 
peoples  a  just  estimate  of  teachers  and  their  voca- 
tion i)revailed,  based  on  the  character  and  attain- 
ments of  teachers  themselves. 

(6)  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  in  China  and 
Egypt,  as  well  as  in  Athens  and  Rome,  it  was  tacitly 
and  perhaps  unconsciously  assumed  that  the  higher 
education  needed  chief  encouragement,  and  deserved 
to  be  fostered  even  where  elementary  education  had 
no  direct  recognition.  Thus  in  China  and  Egypt 
the  high  places  in  the  state  were  filled  only  by  the 
learned  ;  in  Athens  the  greatest  philosophers  devoted 
their  talents  and  their  fortunes  to  founding  and  per- 
petuating the  higher  learning ;  and  in  Rome  the 
most  enlightened  emperors  erected  buildings,  granted 
salaries,  and  conferred  special  privileges  to  encour- 
age liberal  culture.  Nor  does  it  seem  that  through 
this  exclusive  encouragement  to  higher  learning 
elementary  schools  deteriorated,  but  rather  that  they 
were  improved.  Thus  the  example  of  the  ancient 
world  seems  to  warrant  the  assumption  that  higher 
education  deserves  the  fostering  care  that  enlight- 
ened communities  have  during  the  present  century 
accorded  to  it,  desj)ite  the  opposition  that  has  been 
expressed  on  mistaken  grounds  of  principle  and 
economy.  The  result  of  this  policy  has  shown  un- 
mistakably that  elementary  education  must  look  for 
its  improvement  to  an  impulse  proceeding  from 
higher  seats  of  learning  ;  and  this  opinion  has  been 


XXIV        THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

acted  upon  very  recently  in  two  weighty  reports 
from  high  educational  authorities. 

(7)  The  unanimity  of  opinion  among  the  ancient 
theorists  on  the  subject  of  school  discipline  is  some- 
thing worthy  of  note.  In  ages  during  which  the 
rudest  punishments  were  prevalent  in  the  schools  as 
well  as  in  the  state,  theorists  concur  in  denouncing 
corporal  inflictions  as  slavish  in  character,  debasing 
in  tendency,  and  usually  futjle  for  purj^oses  of  refor- 
mation. Indeed  an  English  writer  aptly  says  that 
the  unanimity  of  the  theorists  in  condemning  flog- 
ging has  been  parallelled  only  by  the  persistency  of 
the  schoolmaster  in  continuing  to  use  it.  The 
results  of  the  marked  changes  in  this  respect  within 
a  few  decades  have  strikingly  evinced  the  wisdom 
of  the  ancient  theorists ;  and  the  judicious  sugges- 
tion which,  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  Plutarch  alone 
makes,  that  parents  and  teachers  should  gradually 
relax  the  discipline  exercised  over  well-grown  youth, 
that  they  may  be  prepared  for  the  self-direction  of 
maturity,  has  been  tested  with  gratifying  results  in 
several  influential  quarters. 

(8)  Finally,  the  idea  which  in  our  days  is  more 
commonly  urged  as  a  theory  than  generally  ob- 
served in  the  practice  of  the  schools,  that  all  tasks 
set  for  the  young  should  be  carefully  adapted  to 
their  powers  of  apprehension, — apperception  is  now 
the  accepted  name  for  this  fact, — was  not  wholly 
unknown  to  ancient  theorists.     Thus  Seneca  advises 


PEDAGOGY    IN    ANCIENT    DAYS  XXV 

that  tlio  burdens  laid  on  youths  should  be  adjusted 
to  their  powers,  and  that  no  greater  ones  should 
ever  be  imposed  than  tliey  can  easily  bear ;  Quin- 
tilian  says  that  judicious  teachers  will  not  overtask 
the  weakness  of  pupils,  but  will  adapt  all  tasks  to 
their  abilities  ;  and  Plutarch,  in  order  that  youth 
may  taste  the  pleasures  of  success,  recommends  that 
their  jwwers  be  not  put  to  too  severe  tests. 

These  then  are  what  seem  to  be  the  most  signifi- 
cant contributions  made  by  the  ancient  world  to  the 
theory  and  practice  of  education.  It  is  hoped  that 
this  brief  presentation  of  the  results  of  ancient  ex- 
perience may  be  found  useful  to  students  of  later 
educational  history,  by  pointing  them  to  the  origin 
of  many  esteemed  pedagogic  ideas  and  appliances, 
and  by  impressing  the  wholesome  lesson  of  the  in- 
debtedness of  the  present  to  ages  that  have  long  ago 
sunk  into  comparative  forgetfuluess. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  MODERN  EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  I 

PRELIMINARIES    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

The  history  of  modern  education  has  for  its  field 
the  period  wliich  extends  from  the  revival  of  learn- 
ing in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  called  the 
Renaissance,  down  to  the  times  in  which  we  our- 
selves are  actors.  But  the  Renaissance  had  its 
inciting  causes  and  its  favoring  circumstances  in 
the  times  by  which  it  was  preceded  ;  and  a  highly 
important  cause,  the  preservation  of  the  ancient 
Greek  learning,  was  due  to  events  which  occurred 
several  centuries  earlier  than  the  period  of  which 
we  are  to  treat.  Likewise  much  that  is  of  quite 
vital  interest  to  the  right  understanding  of  modern 
education  had  its  origin  in  the  past,  and  often  in  a 
remote  antiquity.  Educational  arrangements  anal- 
ogous to  those  now  existing,  educational  ideas  of 
perennial  influence  among  educators,  and  means  of 
education  that  are  still  used  in  schools,  are  an 
inheritance  from  ancient  times,  and  link  the  present 
closely  with  a  distant  jiast.  Hence  a  brief  survey  of 
some  significant  facts  in  earlier  history  is  an  essen- 
tial preliminary  to  our  undertaking. 

(9) 


10  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATIO^f 

First  let  it  be  recalled  that  many  of  the  Eastern 
nations,  notably  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoos,  the  Israel- 
ites, and  the  Egyptians,  had  educational  ariange- 
ments  well  adapted  to  the  ideas  that  prevailed 
among  them,  and  from  them  important  elements  of 
culture  have  descended  to  us.  The  Hindoos  are 
believed  to  have  originated  the  decimal  system  of 
arithmetical  notation  which  has  been  transmitted  to 
us  through  Arabian  channels.  The  important  de- 
vice of  a  phonic  alphabet,  long  credited  to  the 
Phoenicians,  has  recently  been  ascribed  to  the  Egyp- 
tians ;  and  the  history  of  ancient  Egyptian  culture 
assumes  a  growing  importance  to  modern  educa- 
tion as  investigation  penetrates  deeper  into  its  dark 
places. 

The  Athenians  gave  an  admirable  education  to 
their  boys,  and  Athens  and  several  of  the  Greek 
colonies,  some  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  had 
arrangements  for  the  higher  training  of  youth  which 
are  the  prototypes  of  our  modern  university  idea. 

In  Rome,  during  the  reign  of  the  earlier  emperors, 
there  had  grown  up  by  private  initiative  a  series  of 
schools  which  presents  striking  analogies  with  some 
modern  systems. 

The  developing  method  of  Socrates  and  the  illus- 
trative method  of  Christ  are  models  after  which  the 
teachers  of  to-day  might  well  pattern  ;  and  educa- 
tional ideas  first  expressed  by  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
by  Seneca  and  Quintilian,  and  b}^  the  Greco-Roman 


PRELIMINARIKS    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION  11 

Plutarch,  are  still  current  on  the  lips  of  educators, 
often  with  little  thought  of  their  ancient  origin. 

None  will  need  to  he  reminded  that  Greece  and 
Rome  had,  before  the  Christian  era,  develo})ed  an 
art  and  a  literature,  which  were  the  immediate 
sources  of  inspiration  to  the  Renaissance,  which 
were  long  the  predominant  means  of  culture  in  the 
schools  of  the  modern  period,  and  which  still  hold 
deservedly  a  high  place  in  most  institutions  for 
higher  education.  After  Greecian  literature  and 
philosophy  had  ceased  to  be  productive,  a  science  of 
grammar  was  originated  from  the  anatomical  study 
of  language,  and  had  attained  a  good  degree  of 
completeness  in  the  first  century  A.  D.  Aristotle 
gave  to  Deductive  Logic  the  form  which  it  has 
retained  until  the  present  century.  Rhetoric,  in 
the  hands  of  Quintilian,  took  the  form  of  a  singu- 
larly complete  science,  and  Euclid  wrought  his  own 
work  and  that  of  his  predecessors  into  a  treatise  on 
Geometry  which  has  never  been  wholly  superseded. 

In  all  these  subjects  of  school  instruction  the 
modern  period  is  deeply  indebted  to  the  ancient 
world  ;  in  the  mathematics  aside  from  Geometry, 
and  in  the  sciences  of  nature,  however,  it  owes  com- 
paratively little  to  the  ancients  ;  although  treatises 
on  Geography,  Astronomy,  and  Natural  History, 
which  for  many  centuries  were  authoritative,  were 
written  by  men  like  Strabo,  Ptolemy,  Aristotle  and 
Pliny. 


12  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

To  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  empire  succeeded 
in  Western  Europe  six  centuries  of  social  confusion, 
lawless  violence,  and  consequent  dense  ignorance. 
Learning  had  little  encouragement  save  among  the 
clergy  ;  books,  which  could  be  multiplied  only  l)y 
the  slow  process  of  copying  on  expensive  materials, 
were  scarce  and  enormously  dear ;  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, in  which  books  were  written,  became  pro- 
gressively unintelligible  to  the  various  nationalities 
which  slowly  segregated  themselves  from  the  seeth- 
ing mass  of  barbarian  invaders  ;  and  during  this 
period  of  darkness,  the  means  of  culture  found  their 
chief  refuge  in  the  monasteries.  Macaulay  says  : 
"  Had  not  such  retreats  been  scattered  here  and 
there  among  the  huts  of  the  miserable  peasantry  and 
the  castles  of  the  ferocious  aristocracy,  European 
society  would  have  consisted  of  beasts  of  burden  and 
beasts  of  prey.  The  church  has  many  times  been 
compared  by  divines  to  the  ark  of  which  we  read 
in  the  book  of  Genesis,  but  never  has  the  resemblance 
been  more  perfect  than  during  the  evil  time  when 
she  alone  rode,  amidst  darkness  and  tempest,  on 
the  deluge  beneath  which  all  the  great  works  of 
ancient  power  and  wisdom  lay  entombed,  bearing 
within  her  that  feeble  germ  from  which  a  second  and 
more  glorious  civilization  was  to  spring." 

The  Moslem  learning  which  sprang  into  prom- 
inence early  in  the  eighth  century,  spread  rapidly 
through  Northern  Africa  and  penetrated  into  Spain, 
where  a  brilliant  Moslem  empire  existed  until  the 
15th  century.     The  arts  and  industries  flourished ; 


PRELIMINARIES    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION  l-*i 

a  rich  imaginative  literature  took  on  sucli  propor- 
tions that  the  Hbrary  of  one  of  the  caliphs  is  said  to 
have  had  400,000  volumes  ;  schools  abounded,  and 
the  elements  of  knowledge  reached  every  household  ; 
universities  were  founded  of  such  note  that  in  the 
10th  and  11th  centuries  ambitious  youth  from  Italy 
and  Gaul  resorted'thither,  undeterred  by  the  tales 
of  necromancy  and  devil's  lore  which  ignorant 
Europe  believed  of  the  arts  cultivated  by  Moslem 
Spain ;  and  influences  thence  derived  not  only 
aided  to  stimulate  the  growth  of  universities  in 
Europe  in  the  12th  century,  but  also  seem  to  have 
impressed  themselves  in  some  degree  on  the /o7'm  of 
the  instruction  there  given. 

The  Byzantine  Greeks  whose  literary  centre  was 
Constantinople,  were  the  inheritors  of  the  old  Greek 
culture.  This  culture  suffered  an  eclipse  during  the 
7th  and  8th  centuries  in  consequence  of  fierce 
dynastic  and  theological  struggles,  but  in  the  9th 
century  it  revived  afresh,  and  for  more  than  six 
centuries,  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  emperors, 
it  displayed  that  kind  of  vigor  which  consists  rather 
in  marking  time  than  in  advancing.  In  other 
words,  tlie  Byzantines  showed  no  capacity  for  original 
production ;  but  they  industriously  collected  the 
precious  monuments  of  their  ancestral  philosophy 
and  literature,  multiplied  them  by  transcription, 
and  finally,  in  the  14th  and  15tli  centuries,  fur- 
nished them  unchanged  to  Italy  where  they  became 


14  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  inspiring  cause  of  the  Renaissance  and  of  the 
beginnings  of  modern  education.  It  may  be  said 
that  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his  Count  Robert  of  Paris 
gives  a  hvely  picture  of  the  splendors  of  Constanti- 
nople and  of  its  literary  dilettantism  at  the  time  of 
the  crusades. 

The  Mediaeval  Universities  of  Europe,  some  knowl- 
edge of  which  is  essential  for  our  purpose,  were  the 
unique  product  of  an  intellectual  uprising  which 
began  near  the  close  of  the  11th  century,  and  which 
had  several  causal  antecedents  of  which  one  has  been 
mentioned  above.  The  earliest  of  them,  those  of 
Bologna,  Paris,  and  Oxford,  sprang  from  obscure 
beginnings,  so  obscure  indeed  that  it  is  impossible 
to  assign  any  exact  date  to  their  origin  ;  they  were 
not  founded  but  grew  out  of  the  intellectual  wants 
of  the  times.  Those  founded  later  by  popes  and 
princes,  including  all  the  earlier  universities  of  Ger- 
many, generally  modeled  themselves  on  the  Univer- 
sity of  Paris  which  was  considered  the  "  mother  of 
universities."  We  have  no  jDresentneed  to  consider 
the  structure  and  the  privileges  of  these  venerable 
re})ublics  of  letters.  What  alone  concerns  us  is  their 
studies  and  their  methods  of  instruction. 

The  studies  of  the  universities  were  usually  classed 
as  the  Sciences,  and  the  Arts  :  at  the  head  of  the 
first  stood  Theology  including  the  Scholastic  Philos- 
ophy, followed  by  Jurisprudence  and  Medicine  :  by 
the  term  Arts,  was  intended  the  seven  liberal  arts  of 


PRELIMINARIES    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION  15 

the  Middle  Ages,  but  chiefly  the  Trivium,  i.  e., 
Grammar,  Rhetoric,  and  Logic,  all  three  of  which 
were  presented  in  their  most  formal  and  barren 
aspects,  and  illustrated  by  passages  from  some  of 
the  classical  Roman  authors.  The  Sciences  were 
pursued  in  treatises  which  in  medicine  had  come 
from  the  Greeks  or  Moors,  in  Law,  from  the  Romans 
or  the  papal  decisions,  and  in  Theology-Philosophy, 
from  the  earlier  Schoolmen.  These  were  treated  as 
authoritative:  they  were  studied,  and  might  bo  illus- 
trated, explained,  and  commented  on,  but  not  criti- 
cised nor  doubted. 

In  considering  the  methods  of  the  universities  it 
must  be  remembered  that  printing  was  not  yet 
invented,  and  that  hence  books  were  very  scarce  and 
very  dear.  Hence  the  method  of  teaching  was  of 
necessity  oral.  The  professor  read,  i.  e.,  dictated  his 
author  with  his  own  comments  and  explanations  if 
he  chose  to  make  them,  and  the  students  copied 
verbatim.  Hence  progress  was  necessarily  slow. 
A  more  peculiar  and  characteristic  feature  of  their 
method  was  the  practice  of  disputation  which,  bor- 
rowed from  the  Moorish  schools,  and  applied  to  the 
definitions  and  subtle  distinctions  of  the  scholastic 
philosophy  and  theology,  soon  invaded  every  depart- 
ment of  study  in  universities,  and  spread  to  whalr 
ever  lower  schools  existed.  It  grew  to  be  counted 
as  of  the  very  essence  of  teaching :  students  and 
teachers  prided  themselves  on  their  ability  to  su§- 


16  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

tain  with  equal  case  either  side  of  any  question, 
always  within  tlie  limits  of  their  authorities :  and 
these  verbal  duels  were  conducted  with  such  heat, 
that  the  opposing  sides  were  apt  to  come  to  blows 
unless  separated  by  barriers.  This  practice  of  dis- 
putation doubtless  trained  men  to  skill  in  reasoning, 
confirmed  their  grasp  of  subjects,  and  made  them 
acute  and  dextrous  in  subtle  verbal  distinctions, 
rather  than  profound  ;  but  it  must  have  tended 
powerfully  to  unsettle  men's  convictions  that  there 
can  be  any  absolute  truth,  since  all  might  be  ex- 
plained and  refined  away. 

In  these  methods  and  studies,  both  schools  and 
universities  were  confirmed  and  fixed  by  four  cen- 
turies of  undisj^uted  use.  Entrenched  thus  in  un- 
alterable prepossessions,  they  naturally  became  the 
most  formidable  opponents  of  the  Renaissance,  and 
were  long  the  most  serious  obstacles  to  the  spread  of 
the  New  Learning  ;  for  this  reason  it  has  been  need- 
ful that  they  should  here  be  thus  briefly  described. 

Guizot  in  his  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe,* 
in  stating  the  causes  which  produced  the  rapid 
advances  in  European  civilization  during  the  cen- 
turies succeeding  the  15th,  has  also  most  clearl}^ 
stated  the  immediate  precursors  of  the  educational 
Renaissance.  These  were, — (1)  the  strengthening 
of  the  powers  of  the  central  governments  in  all 
European  states,  thus  assuring  a  greater  measure  of 

*  Lecture  XI. 


PRELIMINARIES    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION  17 

order  and  legal  security  for  ])ersoiis  and  pro|)erty  : 
(2)  tlio  vain  attem})ts  at  ecclesiastical  reform  through 
church  councils,  and  the  equally  abortive  efforts  for 
popular  religious  reform,  which,  through  tlie  sup- 
pression of  outward  signs  of  discontent  consequent 
on  their  failure,  possibly  made  the  outbrealc  tliat 
ensued  more  violent :  (3)  the  use  in  the  official  inter- 
course among  nations  of  the  arts  of  di})lomacy, 
which  now  came  into  vogue,  and  which,  by  demand- 
ing a  knowledge  of  other  nationalities  as  to  their 
history,  their  resources,  and  their  modes  of  living 
and  thinking,  prompted  men  to  a  kind  of  culture 
heretofore  unknown  and  thus  became  a  powerful 
means  of  enlightenment :  (4)  the  important  inven- 
tions which  came  into  active  use  in  the  loth  cen- 
tury, of  which  the  most  interesting  to  us  is  the  art 
of  printing :  and  (5)  the  revival  of  interest  in  the 
study  of  the  Greek  classics  which,  beginning  in 
Italy,  spread  thence  to  other  European  countries, 
recalling  the  minds  of  men  to  a  communion  with 
the  past  intellectual  achievements  of  their  race,  and 
inciting  them  to  a  freedom  of  thought  and  an  ac- 
tivity of  personal  investigation  that  was  fraught 
with  the  most  vital  consequences  to  the  future  of 
learning. 

The  first  two  of  these  ftxcts  are  of  interest  to  the 
student  of  educational  history  chiefly  because  they 
afforded  conditions  favorable  to  the  spread  of  learn- 
ing,— the  first  because  it  assured  a  degree  of  social 


18  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

order  without  which  learning  must  languish,  and 
the  second  because  religious  unrest  tended  to  free 
men's  minds  from  the  bonds  of  mere  authority  by 
which  all  real  progress  in  science  had  hitherto  been 
prevented.  The  needs  created  by  the  growth  of 
diplomacy  have  an  interest  of  a  different  kind,  since 
thus  was  promoted  a  cultivation  of  branches  hitherto 
greatly  neglected,  prominent  among  which  were 
history,  geography,  and  international  ethics. 

It  would  be  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  how  great 
a  change  in  the  fortunes  of  education  was  wrought 
by  the  invention  of  printing,  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  linen  paper  into  common  use  which  occurred 
at  nearly  the  same  time.*  Heretofore,  not  only  had 
transcription  been  slow  and  costly,  but  the  fabric  on 
which  to  write  had  also  been  costly,  both  causes 
preventing  a  rapid  multiplication  of  books.  Hence- 
forth all  this  was  changed  ;  and  ready  access  to 
books  affected  education  in  all  classes  of  schools  in 
many  ways.  It  made  necessary  a  radical  change  in 
the  method  of  teaching,  since  dictation  was  no  longer 
necessary  :  it  released  the  students  from  copying, 
changed  their  use  of  memory  to  an  exercise  of  un- 
derstanding, and  greatly  lessened  the  time  needed 
for  acquiring  knowledge  :  it  demanded  from  profes- 
sors more  originality  of  work,  since  through  print 
their  thoughts  might  readily  be  compared  with 
those  of  others  :  finally,  it  rendered  the  clientage  of 

•  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  C.  IX,  part  2d. 


PRELIMINARIES    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION  19 

universities  more  largely  local,  by  making  it  un- 
necessary for  students  to  travel  far  to  hear  the  words 
of  some  famous  professor. 

How  rapidly  the  new  invention  came  into  use  is 
shown  by  the  fact,  vouched  for  by  Mr.  Green,*  that 
by  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century  10,000  editions 
of  books  and  pamphlets  had  been  issued,  including 
the  chief  Latin  authors,  and  that  in  the  two  succeed- 
ing decades  all  the  notable  Greek  authors  had  also 
been  printed.  It  needs  but  a  brief  consideration  to 
see  the  bearing  of  this  fact  upon  the  multiplication 
of  readers,  and  the  great  stimulus  it  must  have 
given  to  education  and  to  efforts  to  remove  all  need- 
less hindrances  from  the  path  of  knowledge  by  the 
improvement  of  methods  of  instruction. 

But  while  the  invention  of  printing  in  many 
ways  removed  a  tremendous  hindrance  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  last  fact  stated  by  Guizot  was  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  remarkable  intellectual  movement 
which  ushered  in  the  Renaissance  and  the  dawn  of 
modern  education.  The  renewal  of  acquaintance 
with  the  ancient  masterpieces  of  literary  art  first 
gave  to  the  new  invention  a  worthy  employment, 
while  it  stirred  the  souls  of  men  by  nobler  objects 
than  mere  scholastic  rubbish. 

We  have  seen  in  a  recent  paragraph  that  during 
the  Middle  Ages  the  Eastern  Empire  played  the 

•  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  C.  VI.,  Sec.  IV. 


20  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

humble  but  useful  part  of  a  conservator  of  the  old 
Greek  language  and  literature  ;  and  that  it  became 
a  kind  of  enchanted  castle  in  which  great  authors 
slept  for  long  centuries,  awaiting  the  touch  of  some 
magician's  wand  to  summon  them  to  renewed  life, 
activity,  and  influence.  The  time  for  awakening 
came  about  the  middle  of  the  14th  century ;  and 
it  was  j)ermitted  to  Petrarch  and  Boccacio  first  to 
reverse  the  wand,  and  to  read  backwards  the  en- 
thralling spell. 

A  learned  but  dirty,  hideous,  and  withal  fickle 
Greek  scholar,  Leo  Pilatus  by  name,  taught  Greek 
to  Boccacio  and  read  Homer  with  him,  thus  inspir- 
ing him  with  a  love  for  Greek  literature.  Some 
years  earlier,  another  Greek  scholar  had  undertaken 
the  same  office  for  Petrarch,  but  his  sudden  death 
had  brought  his  lessons  to  an  untimely  end,  so  that 
later,  in  thanking  a  friend  for  a  copy  of  Homer  as 
an  invaluable  j^resent,  Petrarch  said  bitterly,  "  But 
alas  !  what  shall  I  do  now  ?  To  me  Homer  is  dumb, 
or  rather  I  am  deaf  to  him."  But  though  shut  out 
from  enjoying  the  great  Greek  authors,  Petrarch 
realized  their  value  ;  and  moreover  in  his  own  field 
of  learning,  he  did  a  great  service  in  bringing  to 
renewed  notice  the  forgotten  works  of  the  great 
Romans.  In  this  last  work,  Dante  likewise  gave 
efficient  aid.  Thus  this  triad  of  famous  Italians 
gave  the  first  impulse  to  a  better  learning. 

The   enduring   enthusiasm   for  Greek    literature 


PRELIMINARIES   OF    MODERN    EDUCATION  21 

which  made  Italy  the  mother  hxnd  of  the  Renais- 
sance, dates,  however,  from  the  coming  into  Italy  of 
Manuel  Chrysoloras,  a  nohle  and  learned  Greek 
statesman,  who  was  also  versed  in  Latin.  He  lec- 
tured on  Greek  literature,  at  first  in  Florence,  and 
then  ill  Pavia,  Venice,  and  Rome,  arousing  every- 
where the  deepest  interest.  •  He  was  followed  later 
hy  many  Greek  emigrants  who  sought  refuge  in  Italy 
from  the  terror  of  the  conquering  Turks,  and  who 
brought  with  them  valuable  manuscripts,  spreading 
"  the  sense  but  not  the  spirit  of  the  Greek  classics."* 

A  taste  for  the  collection  of  Greek  manuscripts 
now  sprang  up,  and  the  search  for  them  was  pros- 
ecuted with  ardor,  not  only  by  scholars,  but  also 
and  at  great  expense  by  the  Medici  and  by  some  of 
the  popes.  The  enthusiasm  for  Greek  literature 
centered  especially  in  Florence,  which  became  for 
Europe  a  seminary  for  Greek  and  Latin  learning 
whence  it  spread  to  other  countries, — Greek  being- 
introduced  at  Oxford  near  the  close  of  the  15th  cen- 
tury by  Linacer  and  Groceyne.f 

During  the  15th  century,  however,  despite  the 
growing  enthusiasm,  the  sole  work  was  merely  pre- 
parative, to  collect  the  new-found  treasures,  to  com- 
ment on  them,  to  imitate  them, — in  short  to  pave 
the  way  for  really  productive  effort  by  thoroughly 
imbibing  the  antique  spirit.     A  picture  not  more 

•  See  Gibbon's  Rome,  C.  LXVI  for  an  acbount  of  the  classical  revival, 
t  See  Lyte's  University  of  Oxford,  C.  XIV. 


22  HISTORY    OP*    MODERN     EDUCATION 

vivid  than  truthful,  of  the  nature  and  direction  of 
the  intellectual  life  which  animated  Florence  in  this 
century,  may  be  found  in  George  Eliot's  "  Romola." 
It  was  a  time  of  passage  from  the  old  to  the  new, 
lingering  still  in  the  old  by  its  lack  of  intellectual 
freedom  and  initiative,  yet  looking  forward  ardently 
to  the  new  era  for  which  it  was  making  the  needful 
preparation. 

The  five  facts  that  have  just  been  presented  to- 
gether with  their  implications,  may  be  regarded  as 
the  forerunners  of  that  extraordinary  intellectual 
revolution  which  is  called  the  Renaissance,  and 
which  may  approximately  be  dated  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  16th  century.  These  were  either  its 
inciting  causes  or  afforded  to  it  favorable  conditions  ; 
while  the  existence,  the  favorite  studies,  and  the 
methods  of  the  older  schools  and  universities  reveal 
to  us  its  most  formidable  future  obstacles.  With 
these  facts  clearly  apprehended,  we  have  gained  the 
standpoint  necessary  for  the  consideration  of  the 
course  and  fortunes  of  modern  education. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE     RENAISSANCE,    AND    SOME     INTERESTING     PHASES 
OF     EDUCATION    IN    THE    SIXTEENTH     CENTURY 

We  have  stated  in  the  preceding  chapter  the  most 
important  antecedents  of  the  Renaissance.  Two 
other  facts,  however,  claim  onr  attention  here,  of 
which  one  coincided  with  tlie  beginning  of  the 
Renaissance,  and  the  other  gained  importance  at 
about  the  same  period.  These  are  the  grea  geo- 
graphical discoveries  which  occurred  at  the  end  of 
the  15th  century,  and  the  literary  growth  of  moderi? 
languages. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  discovery  of  a 
sea  route  to  the  East  Indies  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  and  of  that  hitherto  unknown  continent, 
America,  across  the  Atlantic,  must  have  given  a 
great  now  impulse  to  the  minds  of  men,  already 
predisposed  by  other  causes  to  novel  forms  of  activ- 
ity. It  not  only  enlarged  their  ideas  of  the  globe 
which  they  inhabited,  but  also,  by  putting  them  in 
an  attitude  of  eager  expectancy  as  to  the  results  of 
so  great  revelations,  it  must  have  been  most  unfav- 
orable to  submission  to  mere  authoritative  dicta. 
For  geographic  discovery  is  so  closely  allied  to  physi- 
cal research,  that  it  could  hardly  fail  to  incite  men 

(23) 


24  HISTORY    OP    MODERN     KDUCATION' 

to  a  free  investigation  of  the  phenomena  of  nature, 
undeterred  by  the  authority  even  of  such  names  as 
Aristotle  and  Pliny,  Strabo  and  Ptolemy. 

Of  even  greater  moment,  both  as  a  precursor  and 
as  an  attendant  of  the  great  revival  of  learning,  was 
the  growing  literary  use  and  consequent  settlement 
of  form  of  the  several  great  national  languages  of 
ICurope.  By  the  end  of  the  15th  century  tlie  forms 
of  these  languages  had  become  so  settled,  that  the 
writings  of  the  IGth  century  present  no  considerable 
difficulties  to  students  of  the  several  tongues  at  the 
present  day.  The  significance  of  this  fact  for  the 
educational  history  of  the  Renaissance,  lies  in  this, 
that  however  great  may  be  the  culture  derived  from 
the  study  of  literature  and  science  embodied  in 
tongues  like  the  Greek  and  Latin  which  are  strange 
to  the  speech  of  the  people,  it  can  never  penetrate  to 
any  considerable  depth,  nor  exert  any  very  percep- 
tible influence  on  the  vast  masses  of  the  people,  un- 
til they  have  access  to  its  sources  in  the  familiar 
forms  of  their  own  vernacular. 

If  is  true  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  16th  cen- 
tury Latin  was  still  almost  exclusively  used  among 
the  learned,  and  that  creditable  efi^orts  were  made  to 
free  it  from  mediseval  corruptions  ;  but  parallel  with 
this  fact  were  works  like  those  of  Luther,  of  Rabelais, 
of  Montaigne,  of  Thomas  More,  and  many  other 
authors,  with  vernacular  translations  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  readied  a  vastly  larger  class  of  readers 


THE    RENAISSANCE  25 

than  the  very  learned, — a  class,  too,  which  as  time 
l)assed  was  ever  ou  the  increase,  and  which  has 
made  its  demands  for  the  use  of  the  vernacular  in 
instruction  ever  more  widely  influential,  until  to-day 
the  easy  use  of  Latin  is  confined  to  a  meagre  num- 
ber of  scholars,  and  the  attempt  to  convey  informa- 
tion by  its  means  would  be  counted  an  anomaly, 
even  in  the  Universities. 

To  the  literary  growth  of  modern  languages  and 
their  wide  use  in  schools  of  all  classes  may,  without 
doubt,  be  ascribed  the  enormously  greater,  more  per- 
vasive, and  more  permanent  effects  which  have  fol- 
lowed in  the  train  of  the  Great  Renaissance,  than 
any  which  were  achieved  by  the  springing  up  of  the 
media; val  universities  and  schools,  great  though 
their  significance  was  in  the  times  when  they  ap- 
peared. 

Such  were  the  inciting  and  favoring  causes  of  the 
revival  of  learning.  At  the  outset  it  seemed  destined 
to  be  only  a  classic  revival,  whose  chief  purposes 
were  to  be  to  restore  the  Latin  tongue  to  somewhat 
of  its  early  purity,  and  to  bring  again  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  learned  the  literary  treasures  of  an- 
tiquity. But  deeper  influences  were  at  work,  in  the 
profound  religious  unrest  which  pervaded  northern 
Europe, — an  unrest  which  s})rang  in  part  from  the 
often  irreligious  and  even  scandalous  lives  of  the 
clergy,  in  part  from  the  loosening  of  the  hold  on  the 
consciences  of  men  of  ancient  dogmas  and  supersti- 


26  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERX    EDUCATION 

tions.  From  this  unrest  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
intellectual  uprising  presently  took  a  wider  range 
than  a  mere  acquaintance  with  classic  authors  and 
imitation  of  their  excellences  ;  and  was  correlated 
with  a  religious  revolution,  which  gave  an  intense 
bitterness  to  its  earlier  struggles,  but  which  ended 
in  approximating  its  later  efforts  to  that  great  Hu- 
manitarian ideal,  the  conception  of  the  infinite  worth 
and  perfectibility  of  the  human  personality,  the  nat- 
ural correlative  of  which  is  the  need  of  education. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  the  different  effects 
which  the  educational  movement  produced  north 
and  south  of  the  Alps.  In  Italy,  which  was  the 
cradle  of  the  Renasissance,  the  religious  ideas  of  the 
learned,  both  clergy  and  laity,  reverted  to  infidelity 
and  even  to  heathenism.  Vice  and  crime  were  never 
more  prevalent.  Savonarola  in  Florence  thundered 
against  the  tendencies  of  the  times,  but  his  eloquent 
voice  was  soon  silenced  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner. 

While  such  were  the  attendants  of  the  revival  of 
classic  learning  in  Italy,  among  the  nations  of  Ger- 
manic origin  a  different  feeling  prevailed.  In 
England  Wyclif,  "  the  greatest  of  the  reformers  be- 
fore the  Reformation,"  had  long  before  translated  tlie 
Bible  into  English  ;  and  John  Colet  strove  to  make 
the  knowledge  of  Greek  a  key  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment. After  graduating  from  Oxford  he  went  in 
1493  to  Paris  and  Italy  to  perfect  himself  in  the 


THE    RENAISSANCE 


27 


JOHN  WYCLIF,  1320-1384. 


JOHN  COLET,  1466-1519. 


classics,  then  poorly  taught  in  England.  Here  he 
formed  his  friendship  with  Erasmus ;  and  with  Sir 
Thomas  More,  who  afterwards  took  care  of  his  pre- 
ferment. On  his  return  he  read  lectures  at  Oxford, 
and  in  1505  became  prebendary  and  soon  after  dean 
of  St.  Paul's,  London.  He  at  once  introduced  tlie 
practice  of  preaching  and  expounding  the  Bible ; 
and  soon  after  established  a  perpetual  divinity  lec- 
ture in  St.  Paul's  church,  three  days  a  week — "  an 
institution,"  says  the  Encj'clop^edia  Britannica, 
"which  helped  pave  the  way  for  the  Reforma- 
tion." 

The  great  work  of  his  life  was  the  founding  in  1509 
of  St.  Paul's  school  for  the  education  of  153  scholars 
" of  all  nacions  and  countres  indifferently".  This 
was  for  the  time  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  course  of 
instruction  was  prescribed  -with  wide  and  liberal 
views,  not  untinged  with  severity.  It  was  the  first 
school   in    England  in  which    Greek  was  publicly 


28  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

taught  after  the  revival  of  letters.  The  first  master 
was  the  grammarian,  William  Lily.  lu  Colet's  ef- 
forts at  reform  within  the  church  he  was  supj)orted 
by  many  of  the  most  learned  of  the  English  prelates, 
with  the  primate,  Warham,  at  their  head  ;  but  in 
the  end  he  was  deemed  a  heretic,  and  he  died  in 
retirement  at  Richmond.  A  sketch  of  his  life  and 
work  is  given  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Edu- 
cation (xvi.  657-88),  compiled  from  the  Life  of  Dr. 
John  Colet  by  Dr.  Knight,  and  giving  Colet's  "  In- 
stitution of  a  Christian  Man,  for  use  of  his  school." 
The  learned  and  brilliant  Erasmus  in  the  Nether- 
lands,— if  indeed  he  can  be  called  a  citizen  of  any 
particular  country, — prepared  an  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  in  which  the  "method  of  interpretation 
was  based,  not  on  received  dogmas,  but  on  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  text,  "  and  "  the  actual  teaching  of 
Christ  was  made  to  supersede  the  mysterious  dogmas 
of  the  older  ecclesiastical  teachings.  "  "As  though 
Christ  taught  such  subtleties,  "  says  Erasmus,  "sub- 
tleties that  can  scarcely  be  understood  even  by  a 
few  theologians, — or  as  though  the  strength  of  the 
Christian  religion  consists  in  man's  ignorance  of  it !  " 
This  edition  of  tlie  New  Testam'ent,  however,  in 
w^hich  Erasmus  boldly  expressed  the  wish,  hereto- 
fore considered  w^ell-nigh  heretical,  that  the  gospels 
and  epistles  "were  translated  into  all  languages,  so 
as  to  be  read  and  understood  not  only  by  Scots  and 
Irishmen,  but  even  b}'^  Saracens  and  Turks,  "  was 


THE    RENAISSANCE  29 

approved  by  Archbishop  Warham  and  sent  "  to 
bishop  after  bishop  ". 

In  Germany  tlie  learned  Hebraist,  Johann  Reuch- 
Hn  (1455-1522),  strove  by  his  labors  on  a  Hebrew 
Grammar  and  Lexicon,  to  make  the  Hebrew  scrip- 
tures accessible  in  their  original  sources ;  and  by 
his  opposition  to  the  burning  of  Jewish  books  save 
those  that  directly  attacked  Christianity,  he  gave 
the  occasion  for  the  bitter  contest  with  the  Domini- 
cans of  Cologne  and  one  Pfefferkorn,  a  converted 
Jew,  in  which  appeared  the  famous  "  Epistles  of 
Obscure  Men  ".  In  these  epistles,  the  monks  and 
the  scholastics  with  their  barborous  Latin  were 
treated  with  biting  irony,  and  their  ignorance  and 
their  sometimes  scandalous  lives  were  made  sub- 
jects of  ridicule. 

I  omit  to  speak,  even  in  this  brief  way,  of  the 
services  of  Rodolph  Agricola  (1443-1485)  in  Ger- 
many, and  Alex.  Hegius  of  Deventer, — the  latter  a 
teacher  of  Erasmus  (see  page  56), — who  by  the  so- 
briety of  their  minds,  and  the  practical  direction  of 
their  efforts,  in  the  last  part  of  tlie  loth  century 
showed  what  should  be  the  character  that  the 
Renaissance  would  assume  in  Germany. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  this  precedes 
the  great  religious  revolution  in  Germany  and  Eng- 
land, and  that  all  these  men  were  faithful  sous  of 
the  church,  anxious  chiefly  for  reform  within  the 
churcli,  and  for  placing  her  doctrines  and  her  prac- 


30  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

tice,  on  a  more  scholarly  as  well  as  a  more  religious 
basis.  Of  all  these  men,  we  shall  have  future  occa- 
sion to  meet  again  Erasmus  only,  when  we  shall 
consider  more  at  large  his  eminent  services  to  the 
cause  of  better  education. 

From  what  has  now  been  said,  it  will  be  seen  how 
different  was  the  early  course  of  the  Renaissance  in 
Italy  and  in  northern  Europe.  I  have  adopted  this 
course  also,  that  I  might  without  undue  prolixity, 
indicate  its  history  and  its  tendencies,  before  it 
became  merged  in  the  great  religious  uprising  in 
which  Luther  became  the  central  figure.  Naturally 
we  are  here  concerned  with  the  religious  reformation 
only  in  so  far  as  it  related  to  the  course  and  history 
of  education. 

I  think  it  may  promote  clearness  of  comprehen- 
sion with  regard  to  the  history  of  education  in  the 
16th  centur}'  to  state  distinctly  at  the  outset  what 
seem  to  me  its  most  marked  characteristics.  These 
were, — 1,  the  determination  of  educational  jiractice, 
and  range  of  studies  to  the  Latin  classics,  to  which 
Greek  was  added  and  to  some  extent  Hebrew ;  2, 
the  great  extension  of  middle-class  education,  by  the 
establishment  of  new  Grammar  schools  in  England, 
by  the  origin  in  Germany  of  many  Protestant  high 
schools,  and  by  the  rise  and  si)read  of  the  Jesuit 
schools ;  3,  that  education  begins  to  be  considered 
as  a  preparation  for  real  life,  and  hence  some  efforts 
are  made  to  economize  the  time  of  pupils  by  the 


THE    RENAISSANCE  31 

use  of  better  methods  of  instruction  and  of  more 
intelligible  text-books ;  4,  that  in  more  than  one 
quarter  we  find  expressed  the  idea  of  free,  universal, 
and  compulsory  education  as  the  proper  corollary 
of  Christian  freedom  of  thought;  5,  that  for  the 
first  time  in  many  centuries,  we  have  great  educa- 
tional theories  announced,  and  reforms  proposed  ; 
and  6,  that  we  see  springing  up  great  practical 
teachers  from  whose  example  we  may  learn  some- 
thing worth  noting.  We  will  discuss  these  several 
topics  in  their  order. 

I.  We  have  said  that  the  Renaissance  had  at  the 
outset  the  character  of  a  classic  revival.  In  full 
harmony  with  this  character  was  the  almost  exclusive 
determination  of  the  studies  in  the  schools  and  uni- 
versities to  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  so  soon  as 
they  came  under  the  influence  of  the  new  spirit. 
This  direction  of  the  activity  of  the  schools  long 
remained  the  dominant  one.  The  Latin  classics 
and  elegance  in  the  use  of  the  Latin  tongue,  natur- 
ally received  the  larger  share  of  attention ;  but 
Greek  likewise  gradually  assumed  a  good  degree  of 
prominence  in  many  schools,  Hebrew  also  receiving 
some  attention.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
study  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  was  urged  by  men  like 
Erasmus  and  Reuchlin  as  a  means  for  gaining  a 
reliable  knowledge  of  Holy  Writ  and  so  of  freeing 
religion  from  errors  and  superstitions.  It  may 
readily  be  judged  that  the  adherents  of  the  Reform- 


32  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ation  would  be  little  likely  to  overlook  this  object  in 
the  schools  which  they  founded. 

It  should  not  be  supposed  however  that  so  great  a 
change  in  the  subject-matter  of  studies  as  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  for  the 
mediaeval  authorities  and  for  empty  scholastic  dis- 
putations, was  effected  without  a  bitter  struggle. 
In  point  of  fact  the  struggle  was  both  protracted 
and  virulent  in  the  ancient  universities  and  second- 
ary schools  ;  and  this  was  particularly  true  of  those 
of  Germany.  There  the  Catholic  clergy  in  charge 
of  many  of  the  schools,  with  the  Dominicans  who 
were  partisans  of  scholasticism  at  their  head,  and 
even  not  a  few  Protestants  who  clung  to  the 
authority  of  Aristotle,  made  long  and  vigorous 
opposition  to  any  innovation  in  that  to  which  they 
were  accustomed.  It  was  in  the  early  days  of  this 
contest  that  the  "  Epistles  of  Obscure  Men ",  to 
which  allusion  has  before  been  made,  were  written 
by  the  Humanists ;  yet  as  late  as  1570  we  read  in 
the  life  of  Pierre  Ramus  that  tliis  famous  scholar  was 
refused  temporary  admission  into  the  teaching  force 
of  the  Protestant  gymnasium  of  Strasburg  because 
he  was  known  to  be  opposed  to  Aristotle's  logic ; 
and  that,  on  this  same  account,  the  University  of 
Heidelberg  strongly  opposed  his  temporar}^  appoint- 
ment as  professor  of  ethics  in  that  institution,  when 
made  by  the  elector  palatine. 

In  spite  of  all  opposition  however,  Humanistic 


THE    RENAISSANCE  33 

studies  steadily  made  their  way  into  the  old  strong- 
holds of  Scholasticism ;  the  new  established  Protes- 
tant schools  and  universities  were  in  a  modified 
sense  humanistic  from  the  outset ;  and,  following 
upon  the  success  of  this  revolution  in  studies,  the 
Burse  system  in  the  German  universities  died  out, 
the  lower  degrees  B.  A.  and  A.  M.  fell  into  disuse ; 
and  the  preparatory  schools  of  the  liberal  arts  were 
separated  from  the  universities  as  gymnasien.* 

In  English  Oxford  as  well  as  on  the  continent,  we 
are  told  by  Green,  that  the  Renaissance  met  with  a 
fierce,  though  short-lived  opposition.  "  The  contest 
took  the  form  of  boyish  frays,  in  which  the  young 
partisans  and  oj^ponents  of  the  New  Learning  took 
sides  as  Greeks  and  Trojans."  One  of  the  college 
preachers  who  had  made  furious  tirades  from  the 
pulpit  against  the  new  studies,  was  summoned 
before  the  king,  Henry  VIII,  where  he  alleged  that 
he  was  carried  away  by  the  spirit.  "  Yes  ",  retorted 
the  king,  "  by  the  spirit  not  of  wisdom  but  of  folly." 
The  bluff  king  was  favorable  to  the  New  Learning, 
and  was  not  disposed  to  permit  any  nonsense  to 
hinder  it ;  his  minister  Wolsey  founded  a  splendid 
college  as  its  nursery  ;  and  Oxford  soon  became, 
what  it  has  since  remained,  a  stronghold  of  Human- 
istic learning. 


*  See  Schmidt  n.  377-9  for  account  of  the  opposition  of  old  universities 
to  Humanism,  and  the  chanj^es  in  them  wliich  resulted  from  its  success. 
Also  Paulsen,  Gesch.  des  Gelehrten  Unterrichts  for  a  view  more  favorable 
to  the  universities,  and  less  favorable  to  the  tact  of  Humanists. 


34  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

Elsewhere,  the  straggle  lasted  fully  a  century — so 
tenacious  of  life  are  old  ways — but  when  it  ended, 
the  New  Learning  was  everywhere  in  possession  of 
the  schools,  though  in  not  a  few,  disputations  con- 
tinued to  hold  their  place. 

II.  A  second  characteristic  of  the  16th  century 
was  the  great  extension  of  middle-class  education  in 
England  and  elsewhere.     And  truly  this  extension 
is  something  remarkable  if  it  bears  any  due  propor- 
tion to  the  multiplication  of  grammar  schools  during 
this  century.     Thirty  of  these   schools  existed   in 
England  before  1500,  and  in  the  half  century  which 
followed,  the  number  was  nearly  trebled,  fifty-four 
new  ones  being  added.     Harrison,  an  Englishman, 
in  1577  writes  thus  of  them  :  "  Besides  these  uni- 
versities, also   there  are  a  great  number  of  Gram- 
mer    Schooles,  throughout   the   realme,  and   those 
verie  liberallie  endued  for  the  better  relief  of  pore 
scholers,    so   that   there   are   not   manie   corporate 
townes,  now  under  the  queene's  dominion  that  have 
not  one  Gramer  Schole  at  the  least,  with  a  sufficient 
living  for  a  master  and    usher   appointed    to   the 
same.     There  are  in  like  manner,  divers  collegiat 
churches,  as  Windsor,  Wincester,  Eaton,  Westmin- 
ster ;  and  in  those  a  great  number  of  pore  scholers, 
dailie  maintained  by  the  liberality  of  the  founders, 
with  meat,  bookes,  and  apparell  ;  from  whence,  after 
they  have  been  well  entered  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
Latine  and  Greek  tongs,  and  rules  of  versifying,  tlie 


THE    RENAISSANCE  35 

triall  whereof  is  made  by  certain  apposers,  yearlie 
appointed  to  examine  them,  tliey  are  sent  to  certain 
especiall  houses  in  each  universitie  &c."  This  quo- 
tation from  a  contemporary  writer  is  the  more 
interesting,  because,  while  showing  the  great  exten- 
sion of  secondary  schools,  it  indicates  also  how 
thoroughly  the  New  Learning  had  taken  possession 
of  them. 

A  letter  written  to  Dean  Colet  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  by  one  of  his  friends,  is  sup- 
posed to  indicate  tolerably  well  the  feelings  of  the 
gentry  about  learning  at  that  time.  It  represents  a 
gentleman  at  a  dinner  where  learning  was  spoken  of 
with  some  favor,  as  bursting  out  in  this  fashion : 
"  Why  do  you  talk  nonsense,  friend  ?  A  curse  on 
those  stupid  letters  !  all  learned  men  are  beggars  : 
even  Erasmus,  the  most  learned  of  all,  is  a  beggar 

as  I  hear. — I  swear I'd  rather  that  my  son 

should  hang  than  study  letters.  For  it  becomes  the 
sons  of  gentlemen  to  blow  the  horn  nicely,  to  hunt 
skilfully,  and  elegantly  to  carry  and  train  a  hawk. 
But  the  study  of  letters  should  be  left  to  the  sons  of 
rustics."  A  great  change  was  evidently  wrought  in 
the  opinions  of  this  class  during  this  century  ;  and 
this  change  was  doubtless  due  to  the  better  adapta- 
tion of  studies  to  fit  men  to  make  a  decent  figure  in 
the  kind  of  life  which  they  were  destined  to  lead. 

We  should  not  fail  to  observe  that  amongst  the 
grammar  schools  founded  in  England  in  the  first 


36  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

half  of  the  century,  was  the  one  founded  by  Dean 
Colet  in  connection  with  St.  Paul's,  of  which  Lily, 
long  famous  among  English  schoolmasters,  was  the 
head,  and  which  had  over  its  gate  a  figure  of  the  child 
Christ,  with  the  legend  "  Hear  ye  him,"  so  indicative 
of  the  pious  spirit  of  its  founder.  He  died  in  1519, 
but  not  before  he  had  strongly  urged  in  a  sermon 
preached  before  the  clerical  convocation,  that  a  re- 
form in  the  church  should  begin  with  the  chief 
clergy.* 

Even  more  marked  than  the  growth  of  the  middle- 
class  schools  in  England,  was  the  growth  of  schools 
of  a  like  kind  in  Germany.  Such  for  example  were 
the  "Particular"  schools  and  Kloster  schools  of 
Wirtemberg  and  Saxony,  the  latter  of  which  were 
founded  with  the  estates  and  revenues  of  defunct 
monasteries,  and  both  organized  in  six  progressive 
classes.  Such  were  the  Princes'  schools  (Fiirsten- 
schulen)  of  Saxony  with  their  courses  of  six  years, 
beginning  wdth  the  end  of  .the  third  year  of  the  other 
two  schools.  Such  was  the  widely  celebrated  school 
of  Sturm  at  Strasburg,  and  those  somewhat  less 
known  of  Trotzendorf,  Michael  Neander,  and  Hier- 
onymus  Wolf.  Such  also  were  the  justly  celebrated 
schools  of  the  Jesuits,  which  sprang  up  and  rapidly 
multii)lied  in  France  as  well  as  Germany,  in  the  last 
half  of  the  16th  century. 

*  Burnet,  Hist,  of  Ke'.  III.  p  30.    The  quotations  an-  I'loni  "■  Edacation 
in  Early  England,"  a  publication  of  the  Early  English  Tt;.\t  .Soc. 


THE    RENAISSANCE  37 

In  all  of  these  secondary  schools  there  was  mnch 
which  had  a  common  character.  In  all,  Latin  pre- 
dominated with  some  Greek  ;  little  or  no  attention 
was  given  to  mathematics  ;  and  save  a  few  not  very 
conspicuous  instances,  there  was  an  apparent  neglect 
of  history,  geography,  and  natural  history.  Von 
Raumer  warns  us,  however,  not  too  hastily  to  sup- 
pose that  geography  and  history  were  entirely  neg- 
lected because  they  are  not  mentioned  in  the  list  of 
studies,  since  very  possibly  they  may  have  been  used 
as  incidental  to  the  explanation  of  classical  authors, 
in  which  way  we  know  that  they  were  used  in  the 
schools  of  the  Jesuits. 

During  this  century,  the  idea  of  providing  free 
board  and  tuition  for  poor  but  talented  youth,  was 
widely  acted  upon  in  German  secondary  schools  and 
also  in  the  universities.  The  free  places  needed  for 
this  })urpose,  were  endowed  from  the  confiscated 
wealth  of  the  monasteries  ;  and  many  cloisters  were 
converted  into  schools  which  were  endowed  from 
their  possessions.  A  policy  of  this  kind  had  early 
been  hinted  at  by  Luther,  and  the  state  now  under- 
took to  use  the  property  of  the  monasteries  for  the 
advancement  of  learning,  which  had  nominally,  at 
least,  been  their  most  useful  purpose.* 

What  has  been  said  will  suffice  to  show  how  wide 
an  extension  was  given  during  this  century  to 
secondary  education  in  some  of  the  states  of  Europe. 

•  See  Paulsen  ,Geschichte  des  Gelelirteu  Unterrichts,  p.  160,  etc. 


38  THE    HISTORY    OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark  in  this  con- 
nection that  provision  for  popular  elementary  edu- 
cation was  not  wholly  neglected,  at  least  in  Ger- 
many. The  school  ordinance  of  Wirtemberg  dating 
from  1559,  provides  for  the  instruction  of  boys  and 
girls  in  separate  schools,  in  reading,  writing,  religion, 
and  church  song.  The  similar  school  laws  of  Saxony 
which  date  from  1580  provide  among  other  things 
for  "  Deutschen  schulen  "  in  which  reading,  writing, 
and  religion  are  the  subjects  of  instruction.  Con- 
siderably earlier  in  the  century,  similar  provisions 
for  a  like  limited  instruction,  were  made  in  many  of 
the  cities  and  small  states  of  northern  Germany,  and 
in  some  of  them  separate  schools  for  girls  are  men- 
tioned.* 

III.  We  have  now  discussed  two  of  the  marked 
characteristics  of  educational  history  in  the  16th  cen- 
tury, viz.  the  determination  of  educational  j^ractice 
and  range  of  studies  to  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics, 
with  the  resistance  offered  by  the  older  universities 
and  secondary  schools  to  this  Humanistic  revolution  ; 
and  the  great  extension  of  secondary  education  in 
England  and  Germany,  and  to  some  extent,  through 
the  Jesuits,  in  France.  Let  us  now  consider  the 
third  fact  which  seems  to  me  to  place  a  somewhat 
distinctive  mark  upon  this  century,  and  this  is  that 
school  training  seems  to  have  been  regarded  more 
fully  as  a  preparation  for  successful  pursuit  of  the 

*  Dittes-Geschichte  der  Erziehung  und  des  Uuterrichts  §  27. 


THE    RENAISSANCE  39 

interests  of  this  present  life,  than  had  ever  been  the 
case  since  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  and  that 
hence  some  intelligent  efforts  become  apparent  to 
economize  the  time  of  the  pupils,  and  to  make  a 
proper  use  of  their  intellectual  activity. 

Even  if  we  put  entirely  out  of  view  those  hin- 
drances to  economy  of  time  and  effort,  that  we  have 
heretofore  considered  as  existing  in  the  Middle  Ages  ; 
— it  is  evident  that  the  view  of  life  and  its  purposes 
which  prevailed  in  those  ages,  a  view  which  made 
of  ascetic  observances  the  greatest  merit,  and  of  an 
utter  renunciation  of  this  world  with  all  its  inter- 
ests and  enjoyments  the  surest  passport  to  eternal 
blessedness,  was  very  little  fitted  to  encourage  any 
possible  saving  of  time  which  was  considered  of 
little  worth,  and  of  energies  which  men  were  taught 
to  think  wasted  unless  directed  to  a  contemplation 
of  the  great  hereafter.  It  is  true  that  the  church 
by  its  eager  grasping  after  worldly  power  and  emolu- 
ments, and  that  many  of  the  clergy  in  later  ages 
by  their  greedy  pursuit  of  earthly  possessions  and 
sensual  pleasures,  tacitly  denied  as  mc/i  the  doctrines 
which  as  churchmen  they  taught ;  but  the  mass  of 
men  are  slow  in  their  logical  processes,  and  so  for  a 
time  the  relations  of  the  objective  examples  to  the 
subjective  dogmas  passed  unchallenged,  or  were 
speciously  explained  away.  -^ 

But  with  this  new  intellectual  awakening,  men 
began  to  reason  justly  that  what  both  church  and 


40  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

cliurchmeu  found  so  iuterestiug  in  this  present  world, 
must  certainly  -be  worthy  of  some  attention  ; — that 
this  life,  though  it  be  but  a  period  of  probation  for 
a  far  more  glorious  hereafter,  is  capable  of  being  so 
wisely  used  and  so  rationally  enjoyed  as  to  become 
helpful  for  those  who  are  heirs  of  immortality  ;  and 
that  hence  youthful  years  and  youthful  energies  are 
too  precious  to  be  wasted  and  frittered  away  unneces- 
sarily. Hence  we  hear  from  more  than  one  quar- 
ter, complaints  of  the  loss  of  pupils'  time. 

Erasmus  inveighs  against  the  time  that  is  wasted 
in  teaching  children  to  read  and  write,  which  he 
says  ordinary  masters  spend  three  years  and  more  in 
doing ;  and  he  sets  himself,  as  Quintilian  had  done 
more  than  fourteen  centuries  earlier,  to  devising 
means  for  utilizing  youthful  curiosity,  memory,  and 
readiness  to  observe.  Luther  bitterly  denounces  the 
old  system  by  which  he  says,  "  we  have  seen  young 
people  study  twenty  years  by  the  anticjue  methods, 
and  come  with  difficulty  to  stammer  a  little  Latin 
without  knowing  besides  anything  of  their  mother 
tongue."  The  enormous  waste  of  time  in  the  educa- 
tion  of  children  is  one  of  the  things  that  Rabelais 
most  bitingly  satirizes  in  his  grotesque  account  of 
the  early  education  of  Gargantua  and  in  contrasting 
it  with  the  training  of  Eudemon.  It  is  needless  to  go 
farther  in  illustration  of  the  awakening  conscious- 
ness that  the  years  of  childhood  have  been  hitherto 
terribly  wasted,  and  that   it   is   needful  henceforth 


TPIE    RENAISSANCE  41 

that  tliey  be  used  to  better  purpose  in  a  better  prepa- 
rutiou  for  the  business  of  this  present  world. 

Should  it  be  thought  strange  that  with  this  lively 
and  newly-aroused  interest  in  the  preparation  of 
youth  for  careers  of  future  usefulness,  such  well- 
nigh  exclusive  attention  should  have  been  given  to 
the  ancient  languages  in  all  save  the  most  elemen- 
tary schools,  we  shall  do  well  to  consider  that  at  that 
time  these  were  by  far  the  fittest  and  most  perfect 
means  available  for  youthful  training ;  that  I.atin 
was  still,  not  only  the  universal  language  of  tlie 
learned,  but  also  was,  and  long  continued  to  be,  the 
sole  medium  through  which  desirable  knowledge 
could  be  gained  ;  that  those  sciences  on  which  so 
much  stress  is  now  wont  to  be  laid  as  a  preparation 
for  practical  life,  were  then  in  so  infantile  a  state  as 
to  be  rather  a  source  of  misinformation  than  of 
relial)le  knowledge ;  and  that  furthermore,  it  is  a 
question  not  yet  definitely  settled  among  some  most 
enlightened  nations,  appealing  to  facts  in  their  own 
history,  whether  such  study  of  languages  and  their 
polite  literature,  is  not  after  all  the  most  effective 
training  for  practical  life. 

Aside  from  this  matter  of  the  choice  of  the  best 
literary  means  available  for  the  training  of  youth, 
the  expedients  that  were  in  this  age  proposed  by 
thoughtful  men  to  economize  the  time  and  powers 
of  the  young,  were  chiefly  these  three,  viz.,  a  larger 
use  and  more  thorough  cultivation  of  the  vernacu- 


42  THE    ilTSTORY   OF    MODERN     EDtTCATlON 

lar  tongues,  the  emjiloyment  of  better  and  more 
intelligent  methods  in  instruction,  and  the  prepara- 
tion and  use  of  more  systematic  and  inteUigibly- 
worded  text-books.  It  will  readily  be  recognized 
that  all  these  means  were  suitable  for  the  end  pro- 
posed, and  were  likely  to  be  efficient  thereto  if  wise- 
ly and  skillfully  used.  We  shall  be  able  to  examine 
them  all  in  some  detail,  when  we  come  to  consider 
the  theories  of  education  to  which  this  century  gave 
rise,  under  the  fifth  topic  which  we  have  proposed 
to  ourselves. 

We  may  content  ourselves  with  remarking  here, 
that  the  need  of  more  suitable  school-books  was  felt 
to  be  so  imperative,  to  obviate  the  waste  of  time, 
that  in  Germany  the  greatest  geniuses  like  Reuchlin 
and  Melauchthon,  thought  it  not  beneath  them  to 
compose  elementary  treatises  for  schools  ;  that  the 
art  of  printing  was  there  used  most  of  all  to  mul- 
tiply better  school-books ;  and  that  the  greatest 
prodigy  of  learning,  as  well  as  the  keenest  intellect 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Erasmus,  composed  gram- 
mars to  supersede  books  like  Priscian  and  the  bar- 
barous Doctrinale,  and  prepared  editions  of  classic 
authors,  as  well  as  selections,  which  were  more  suit- 
able for  scliool  use,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter. 

IV.  In  this  century  the  idea  of  universal,  and 
even  compulsory  state  education,  which  had  been 
forcibly  expressed  by  Plato,  had  been  practiced  by 
the  Spartans  and  probably  by  the  Jews,  and  possil)ly 


THE    PvENATSSANCE  43 

had  been  conceived  as  desiral)le  by  Theodulf  in  the 
days  of  Chark^magne, — wo  find  expressed  in  at  least 
three  widely  different  qnarters,  by  Luther  in  1524 
and  1530,  by  Sadolqt,  arclibishop  of  Carpentras  in 
1533,  and  by  the  nobility  in  the  States  General  at 
Orleans  in  1560. 

In  his  celebrated  letter  to  the  "  Magistrates  of  All 
Cities  of  Germany,"  *  Luther  insists  that  tlie  care  of 
education  should  be  an  affair  of  state,  and  not  be 
left  solely  to  parents,  of  whom  some  are  careless  and 
"  like  ostriches  which  abandon  their  eggs,  give  life  to 
children  and  leave  their  nurture  to  chance,"  still 
more  are  ignorant  of  anything  save  care  for  daily 
bread,  and  finally,  others  who  would  gladly  care 
for  their  children  have  neither  time  nor  place  for  it. 
Yet  tlie  children  when  grown  up,  he  says,  will  be 
our  fellow  citizens  for  weal  or  wo.  If  for  weal,  the 
state  must  care  for  their  education,  for  "to  it  is 
the  welfare  of  the  state  entrusted  ;  "  and  this  welfare 
docs  not  depend  alone  on  its  treasures,  its  beautiful 
buildings,  and  its  military  equipment,  but  upon  its 
having  many  learned,  reasonable,  and  honorable 
citizens  who  know  how  to  make  good  use  of  such 
things.  It  is  Satan,  he  declares,  who  suggests  to 
men  the  neglect  of  the  education  of  children.  And 
then,  enumerating  various  public  purposes  for  which 
governments  freely  expend  money,  as  armaments, 
roads,  and  bridges,  he  exclaims,  "  Wliy  should  we 

•  Luther  als  Padagog,  pp.  86-106. 


44  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUOATION 

not  with  better  reason  spend  at  least  as  much  for  the 
poor  needy  youth,  to  employ  a  skillful  man  or  two 
as  schoolmasters  ?  " 

More  than  once  he  asks  in  substance  the  bitter 
question, — do  we  Germans  then  wish  always  to 
remain  boobies  and  beasts,  as  our  neighbors  call  us, 
and  with  good  reason? — that  he  may  sting  the 
national  pride,  and  rouse  to  effective  action  in  found- 
ing schools  to  remove  the  reproach  of  ignorance  and 
stupidity.  "  I  demand,"  he  says,  "  that  the  child  go 
to  school  at  least  an  hour  or  two  per  day  ;  and  it  is 
expedient  to  select  the  most  capable  among  them  as 
masters  of  schools.  Long  enough  we  have  wallowed 
in  ignorance  and  corruption.  Long  enough  and  too 
long,  we  have  been  the  stupid  Germans  ;  it  is  time 
that  we  go  to  work."  So  much  on  the  right  and 
duty  of  tlie  state  to  give  universal  education  to  its 
people,  I  extract  from  Luther's  vigorous  plea  and 
much  more  is  equally  pertinent. 

As  to  its  nature,  while  making  a  strong  plea  for 
the  ancient  languages,  he  says,  "  You  understand  it ; 
we  need  in  all  places  schools  for  our  daughters  and 
our  sons,  that  the  man  may  become  fitted  to  exercise 
his  calling  properly,  and  the  woman,  to  direct  her 
household  aright  and  bring  up  her  children  like 
Christians." 

Let  us  now  see  on  what  he  bases  his  argument  for 
cowjviUory  education.  He  says  "  my  opinion  is,  the 
authorities  are  bound  io  force  their  subjects  to  send 


THE    RENAISSANCE  45 

their  cliildren  to  school.  If  they  can  obhgo  tlieir 
subjects  to  carry  spears  and  guns,  to  mount  ramparts, 
and  to  do  all  military  duties,  with  better  reason  can 
and  ought  they  to  force  them  to  send  their  children 
to  school,  since  here  the  question  is  of  a  much  more 
terrible  war  against  the  demon  Satan."*  You  will 
observe  that  he  rests  the  right  of  the  state  to  compel 
school  attendance  on  the  same  basis  as  the  conceded 
right  of  governments  to  compel  their  subjects  to  do 
military  duty,  and  on  the  fact  that  the  moral  wel- 
fare of  many  children  is  imperilled  by  the  ignorance 
or  carelessness  of  parents.  Luther  certainly  leaves 
us  in  no  doubt  of  his  opinion  in  the  matter  which 
we  are  considering. 

Archbishop  Sadolet,  a  friend  of  Erasmus,  and 
founder  of  several  schools  for  children  in  his  diocese, 
wrote  a  "  treatise  concerning  the  right  instruction  of 
free-born  children  "  in  which,  besides  some  excellent 
counsels  in  other  respects,  he  recommends  that  states 
should  copy  the  Greeks  in  not  leaving  the  training 
of  children  to  parental  caprice  or  ignorance,  and 
says  "as  the  fathers  are  usually  blind,  the  laws 
should  interpose  to  enlighten  them,  to  direct  their 
good-will,  or  in  case  of  resistance  to  constrain  them." 
We  need  not  look  too  closely  to  the  good  prelate's 
Grecian  exam})le,  unless  he  refers  to  ^Sparta.  His 
opinion  is  plain  in  respect  to  the  right  and  duty  of 

*  Sermon  to  Pastors  in  1530. 


46  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  state  to  establish  schools  and  enforce  attendance 
on  them. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  States  General  of  Orleans  in 
1560,  the  memorial  of  the  nobility  to  the  King  con- 
tains the  following  remarkable  projiosal  :  "  May  it 
please  the  King  to  levy  a  contribution  on  ecclesias- 
tical benefices  for  the  payment  of  a  reasonable  salary 
to  schoolmasters  and  men  of  learning  in  all  cities 
and  villages,  for  the  instruction  of  poor  youth  of  the 
rural  parts ;  and  to  order  that  the  fathers  and 
mothers  be  bound  to  send  the  said  children  to  school 
on  penalty  of  a  fine,  and  that  they  be  obliged  to  do 
this  by  the  lords  and  the  ordinary  judges."  There 
is  no  question  that  this  is  a  proposition  for  general 
and  compulsory  education,  and  that  it  provides 
what  seem  likely  to  be  adequate  me?.ns  for  the 
enforcement  of  compulsion. 

It  is  also  obvious  that  the  nobles  point  out  an 
adequate  source  for  the  revenues  needed  to  su[)port 
such  schools, — from  the  property  of  other  people, 
with  which  men  are  wont  to  be  somewhat  more 
generous  than  with  their  own.  Prof.  Compayre 
explains  the  disposition  of  the  nobility  to  petition 
for  popular  instruction  as  Luther  had  done,  and 
their  readiness  to  levy  contributions  on  the  ecclesias- 
tical benefices  for  that  purpose,  as  Luther  had  also 
suggested,  by  saying  that  a  majority  of  the  French 
aristocracy  in  the  16tli  century  were  imbued  with 


THE    RENAISSANCE  47 

the  spirit  of  the  reforinatiou  and  favorable  to  the 
Protestant  cause.* 

It  is  quite  possible  that  what  may  seem  to  us  a 
proposition  for  an  unwarranted  spoilation  for  an 
object  worthy  in  itself,  would  have  been  excused  by 
those  who  participated  in  it,  by  pointing  to  the  vast 
wealth  accumulated  in  the  ecclesiastical  benefices,  a 
wealth  needless  for  the  legitimate  objects  of  the 
church  and  liable  to  be  squandered  in  luxury  ;  and 
by  recalling  the  objects  which  had  given  color  to  at 
least  a  portion  of  these  accumulations,  viz.,  aid  to 
the  poor,  and  gratuitous  education  as  it  had  been 
given  in  most  of  the  early  monasteries.  It  might 
have  been  urged  plausibly  that  the  nobility  purposed 
only  to  restore  a  portion  of  this  wealth  to  its  original 
uses. 

We  have  then  three  distinct  proposals  in  this  cen- 
tury for  universal  education,  under  direction  of  the 
state,  and  compulsory  in  its  character.  One  of 
these  proposals  comes  from  the  leading  figure  of  the 
Reformation,  a  second  from  a  prelate  of  the  Roman 
church,  and  a  third  from  a  body  of  the  French 
nobility.  Evidently  therefore,  thus  early  in  the 
Renaissance  period,  a  perception  of  these  great  edu- 
cational principles,  which  the  present  age  is  coming 
to  regard  as  well-nigh  axiomatic,  had  already  gained 
a  degree  of  acceptance  in  theory  which  seems  more 

*Hist.  Crit.  clcs  Doc.  do  I'Edn.  en  France,  vol.  I,  p.  157, 


48  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

remarkable  wheu  we  consider  liow  slowly  they  have 
been  accepted  in  practice. 

In  concluding  this  part  of  our  subject,  it  is  inter- 
esting also  to  remark,  that  the  arguments  with 
which  Luther  especially  in  general,  and  Sadolet  in 
part,  enforce  their  ideas,  are  the  same  that  are  urged 
in  our  own  days  for  like  purposes  :  viz.,  the  need  of 
universal  enlightenment  as  the  logical  correlative  of 
that  universal  freedom  of  thought  which  is  the 
essence  of  the  Humanitarian  revolution  ;  and  the 
right  and  duty  of  the  state  to  supervise  it,  enforce 
it,  and  insure  it  against  the  chances  of  parental 
poverty,  ignorance,  and  caprice,  in  the  interest  of 
the  entire  body  of  citizens. 


CHAPTER  III 

EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  OF  THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 

V.  The  ;i})})earauco  in  the  sixteenth  century  of  a 
number  of  distinguished  men  wlio  have  expressed 
noteworthy  opinions  on  the  means  and  method  of 
education,  is  one  of  its  most  interesting  characteris- 
tics ;  not  only  because  tliese  men  furnish  vahuible 
contributions  to  the  history  of  educational  thought, 
but  also  because  they  indicate  how  thoroughly  the 
human  mind  has  been  awakened,  and  how  com- 
l^letely  it  has  freed  itself  from  the  shacHes  of  author- 
ity in  the  realm  of  thought.  For  nearly  twelve 
centuries,  from  the  days  of  Quintilian  and  Plutarch, 
of  St.  Jerome  *  and  St.  Augustine,  little  or  nothing 
bearing  the  stamp  of  original  thought  on  the  sub- 
ject of  education  is  known  to  us.  Here,  as  else- 
where during  thq^  Middle  Ages,  authority  reigned 
supreme,  an  authority  too,  which  barren  and  ascetic 
in  its  nature,  brought  barrenness  into  education  so 
long  as  it  prevailed. 

But  from  the  beginning  of  the  16th  century  all 
this  is  changed.     From  this  time  forward  we  shall 

*St.  Jerome's  letter  to  Laeta.  written  in  the  fourth  century,  in  wliicli 
he  save  advice  to  a  Christian  mother  for  tlie  education  of  her  daughter,  a 
descendant  of  the  Scipios  and  Gracchi,  and  which  was  long  influential  in 
female  education,  may  be  found  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Educa- 
tion, vol.  5,  p.  549. 

(49) 


50  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

find  no  lack  of  men  of  the  brightest  genius,  who 
bestow  on  educational  topics  some  of  the  choicest 
efforts  of  their  thought.  Nor  will  these  men  be 
confined,  by  any  means  to  the  adherents  of  the 
Reformation.  Indeed  four  of  the  six  men  whose 
opinions  we  shall  have  occasion  to  discuss  in  this 
century  were  Catholics,  and  one  of  them,  Rabelais, 
was  a  monk,  though  not  very  ascetic  in  either  life 
or  writings.  Thus  it  will  appear  that  freedom  of 
thought  has  penetrated  everywhere  in  the  track  of 
the  Renaissance,  and  displays  itself,  as  in  other 
ways,  so  also  in  zeal  for  the  improvement  of  edu- 
cation. 

It  will  be  well  for  us  to  carry  with  us  as  a  kind  of 
guiding  thought  in  examining  the  ideas  of  the 
writers  of  this  age,  the  fact  that  both  the  funda- 
mental i^rinciples  of  right  education,  were  now 
almost  everywhere  violated,  as  an  inheritance  from 
the  past ;  to  wit,  the  principle  of  Conformity  to  Cul- 
ture in  selecting  the  best  available  means,  and  the 
principle  of  Conformity  to  Nature  in  the  adaptation 
of  methods  and  instrumentalities  in  instruction  to 
the  end  to  be  gained  in  the  development  of  the 
young.  The  theories  of  this  and  the  succeeding 
ages,  may  be  regarded  as  efforts  to  rehabilitate  both 
these  principles  in  educational  practice. 

Against  scholasticism,  which  violated  the  first, 
sanctified  as  it  was  by  tradition  and  entrenched  in 
the  inertia  of  men,  a  sharp  but  decisive  battle  was 


EDUCATIONAL  OPINIONS  51 

waged  which  continued  most  of  this  century.  We 
shall  see  this  in  the  denunciations  of  Luther,  in  the 
keen  and  polished  invective  of  Erasmus,  in  the  gro- 
tesque delineations  of  Rabelais,  and  in  the  efforts  of 
all  to  give  classic  literature  its  due  preponderance  in 
the  courses  of  the  schools  ;  whilst  the  efforts  of  Ramus 
in  behalf  of  Mathematics,  and  of  Montaigne  in  favor 
of  Plistory,  are  j)arts  of  the  same  struggle  to  secure 
a  proper  conformity  of  studies  to  the  best  available 
means  of  culture. 

The  efforts  which  are  made  by  all  the  theorists  to 
secure  conformity  to  nature  in  the  methods  of  im- 
parting instruction  to  the  young,  are  of  the  higliest 
interest,  because  they  are  the  efforts  of  pioneers  in 
an  almost  untrodden  field.  They  will  be  seen,  not 
only  in  the  ]3roposal  of  methods  seemingly  better 
adapted  to  the  ways  in  which  the  youthful  intelli- 
gence works  its  way  to  clearness  of  view,  but  also 
in  the  preparation  of  school-books  better  suited  to 
the  capacity  of  young  minds.  And  should  some  of 
the  expedients  that  are  proposed  seem  to  us  like  the 
half-blind  gropings  of  men  after  better  things,  yet 
measurably  uncertain  as  to  how  they  may  best  be 
attained,  we  shall  do  well  to  remember,  that  at  that 
time  the  laws  of  mental  evolution  had  been  very 
little  studied,  and  that  with  the  experience  of  nearly 
four  centuries  of  theories  to  aid  in  their  mastery,  we 
of  the  19th  century  cannot  boast  that  we  have  gotten 
wholly  back  to  nature  in  our  school  practice. 


52 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


Martin  Luther,  1483-1546 

Luther  is  too  well  known  to  need  a  personal  intro- 


MARTIN  LUTHER,  1483-1546 


JOIIAXN  AGRICOLA,  1492-1566 


duction  ;  a  man  of  controversies,  as  with  his  friend 
Agricola  over  antinomianism.  We  have  already  seen 
his  testimony  as  to  the  inefficiency  of  studies  in  caus- 
ing waste  of  time  (p.  40),  and  his  appeals  for  univer- 
sal and  compulsory  education  (p.  43).  He  expresses 
his  opinion  of  the  merits  of  the  existing  schools  w'ith 
his  usual  frankness,  in  calling  them  "these  stables 
of  two-footed  asses,  and  these  diabolical  schools", 
which  he  would  wish  razed  to  the  ground  or  else 
by  a  pious  metamorphosis  transformed  into  Chris- 
tian schools.  The  masters  he  depicts  as  men  who 
themselves  ignorant,  were  unable  to  teach  others 
(9ither  truth  or  piety,  and  much  more  incapable  of 
instructing  themselves  or  others  in  life  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  reason.  "  A  daw  does  not  hatch  a  dove, 
nor  does  a  dullard  train  a  j^rudent  man."  It  will 
be  seen  that  he  is  perfectly  frank  in  denouncing 
the  lack  of  conformity  to  culture. 


EDUCATIONAL  OPINIONS  53 

Let  us  sec  wluit  iiieaiis  he  proposes  to  remedy  the 
evils  that  he  exposes.  These  were  first  the  classic 
languages  and  some  other  studies  which  he  shall 
})resently  name  himself,  and  second,  great  libraries 
in  centres  of  population.  (1)  As  to  the  first  he  says, 
the  first  thing  we  have  to  do  is  to  cultivate  the  lan- 
guages, Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  ;  "  for  the  tongues 
are  the  sheaths  which  contain  the  spirit,  the  vases 
which  hold  religious  verities  ;  "  and  again  in  another 
place,  "  If  I  had  children  and  the  means  to  rear 
them  (this  was  said  before  his  marriage  to  the  nun, 
Catharine  von  Bora),  I  should  wish  them  to  learn, 
not  only  languages  and  History,  but  also  Music  and 
Mathematics."  We  see  that  in  this,  Luther  would 
makg  an  important  addition  to  the  studies  to  which 
that  age  predominantly  turned,  since  he  would  add 
mathematics,  history,  and  music  to  their  curriculum. 
Still  farther,  in  his  letters  and  sermons,  he  lays  the 
strongest  emphasis  on  Religion  as  a  subject  of  youth- 
ful study,  and  he  shows  himself  friendly  to  physical 
education  through  a  training  that  may  fit  boys  for 
military  duties.  Hence  his  curriculum  of  school 
studies  will  come  to  include  religion,  the  learned 
languages,  history,  mathematics,  singing,  and  physi- 
cal training. 

In  one  of  his  sermons  he  also  presses  parents  not 
to  be  easily  satisfied  with  small  advancement  of  their 
children.  "  Let  thy  son  study  boldly,"  he  says, 
"even  thouirh  he  should  sometimes  want  bread  ;  so 


54  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

wilt  thou  give  to  our  Lord  God  ca  fine  bit  of  wood 
out  of  which  He  may  carve  a  master.  And  think 
not  within  thyself  that  now  the  common  love  of 
bread  and  butter  so  greatly  despises  the  professions, 
and  so  say — 'Ha,  if  my  son  can  read  and  write 
German,  and  can  reckon,  he  knows  quite  enough,  I 
will  make  him  a  tradesman.'  They  shall  soon 
become  so  eager  that  they  will  willingly  dig  a 
learned  man  out  of  the  earth  with  their  fingers,  if 
he  lay  ten  ells  deep." 

We  should  not  think  however  that  Luther  pushes 
his  dislike  to  the  old  scholastic  ways  so  far  as  to 
despise  Dialectics  and  Rhetoric.  *  On  the  contrary, 
he  values  them  both  truly,  for  what  they  are  really 
fit.  He  says  in  his  table  talks,  "  Dialectics  is  a  use- 
ful and  needful  art,  which  one  should  study  and 
learn  rightly,  as  he  would  arithmetic  and  reckoning. 
Dialectics  reasons,  but  gives  not  the  abihty  to  him 
who  has  already  learned  it,  to  reason  about  every- 
thing :  it  is  an  implement  and  tool,  by  whose  use  we  can 
reason  elegantly,  correctly  and  systematically  about 
what  we  know  and  understand."  So  also  of  Rhetoric, 
he  says,  "  Fine  speaking  is  not  a  strained  and  high- 
colored  gloss  of  words,  but  is  rather  an  elegantly 
adorned  speech,  which  presents  a  matter  or  a  sub- 
ject with  charming  skill,  clearly  and  nobly,  like  a 
beautiful  painting."  Both  these  arts  are,  it  will  be 
seen,  treated  fairly  and  with  just  discrimination,  as 


EDUCATIONAL     OPINIONS  55 

would  appear  even  more  plainly  could  we  carry 
quotation  farther. 

(2)  Besides  studies  which  we  have  considered, 
Luther  would  extend  farther  the  means  of  culture, 
by  the  establishment  in  all  cities  of  extensive  libraries, 
in  which  he  says,  "  the  first  place  should  be  for 
Annals,  Chronicles,  and  Histories  of  all  kinds  which 
perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  past  times.  For 
these  are  wonderfully  useful  for  learning  and  regu- 
lating the  course  of  the  world,  yea  even  to  behold  the 
wonders  and  the  works  of  God."  I  choose  this  pas- 
sage from  his  wise  advice  as  to  the  contents  of  such 
libraries,  because  it  shows  that  his  mention  of  history 
among  the  subjects  he  would  have  taught  to  child- 
ren, was  one  of  his  settled  convictions  in  regard  to 
school  subjects,  at  a  time  when  history  was  still  little 
thought  of  His  list  of  books  that  should  be  ex- 
cluded, which  he  classes  as  eselsmist,  is  at  least  amus- 
ing, as  showing  his  disgust  for  scholastic  theology. 

In  regard  to  home  and  school  discipline  he  speaks 
much  and  wisely,  recommending  a  gentle  firmness 
which  shall  assure  obedience,  yet  win  love.  The 
life  of  the  school  should  be  social  as  opposed  to 
monastic  restrictions  and  severity.  He  recommends 
also  that  languages  should  so  far  as  possible  be 
learned  concretely  rather  than  by  abstract  grammar 
rules  as  heretofore.  Hence  we  may  see  that  Luther 
enters  little  upon  conformity  to  nature.  His  effort, 
aside  from  religion,  was  for  conformity  to  culture. 


56 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATIOX 


ERASMUS,  1467-1536 


Erasmus,  1467-1536. 

Erasmus,  the  most  famous  scholar  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  was  born  at  Rot- 
terdam, probably  in  1467, 
and  at  the  age  of  twelve 
was  sent  to  Deventer, 
where  under  the  learned 
Hegius*  he  studied  the 
Latin  classics  with  such 
ardor  as  to  commit  to 
memory  Virgil,  Horace,  and 
Terence,  besides  learning  a  little  Greek.  Both  his 
parents  dying  when  he  was  not  yet  fourteen,  he  was 
left  in  the  hands  of  guardians  who  desired  to  make 
him  a  monk  that  they  might  share  his  small  patri- 
mony. The  boy  made  a  stout  resistance,  but  finally 
took  the  vows,  lured  by  the  prospect  of  a  chance  for 
quiet  study,  for  which  he  had  a  strong  taste.  Later 
he  was  ordained  to  the  priesthood,  but  led  a  some- 
what wandering  life,  visiting  many  .cities  where  the 
rising  fame  of  his  great  learning  won  him  many- 
friends. 

He  mastered  Greek  by  his  own  unaided  efforts, 
and  had  so  eager  a  desire  for  this  language  that  he 
said  "  When  I  get  money  I  will  first  buy  Greek  books, 
and  then  clothing.  "     He  became  especially  famous 

*Hegius,  1421-1498,  was  for  30  years  rector  of  a  school  in  Deventer,  a 
famous  teacher  of  many  famous  men,  versed  as  well  in  Greek  as  Latin,  and 
of  sin^uhirly  wide  interests  for  tliat  period,  valuing  mathematics  and 
physics  as  well  as  literature.    See  page  29. 


EDUCATIONAL     OPINIONS  57 

for  his  jiure  and  elegant  Latin  ;  for  his  keen  critical 
acumen  and  literary  taste  ;  for  his  sharp  and  witty 
criticisms  both  of  scholasticism  and  of  those  who 
imitated  Cicero  in  Jomn  but  not  in  substance  ;  and 
for  his  bitter  hatred  of  the  monks,  whose  cheated 
victim  he  had  been,  whose  life  he  had  for  five  years 
shared,  and  from  whose  vows  he  had  been  freed  by 
the  pope. 

He  prepared  a  fine  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
some  j)assages  from  the  introduction  to  which  have 
been  already  quoted,  and  which  is  said  to  have  been 
an  influential  factor  in  the  Reformation  ;  yet  he  had 
little  sym})atliy  with  Luther,  refused  his  support  to 
the  Reformation,  and  acknowledged  that  he  had  no 
taste  for  martyrdom.  He  prepared  the  materials 
for  improving  classic  scholarshijD,  by  good  editions 
of  authors,  by  simplified  Grammars,  by  translations 
of  Greek  authors  into  Latin  that  they  might  be 
made  more  generally  accessible,  and  by  his  collec- 
tion of  4200  Adages  with  their  exemplification, 
exposition,  and  illustration.  He  was  also  author  of 
other  works  of  which  his  Colloquies  are  the  most 
famous.   '■ 

He  gained  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  pro- 
found scholar  and  the  keenest  satirical  genius  of  his 
time,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  religious  reforma- 
tion, his  position  in  the  world  of  letters  was  an 
imperial  one.  He  was  sought  after  by  many  univer- 
sities ;  literary  aspirants  laid  their  productions  at  his 


58  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

feet,  as  being  the  supreme  arbiter  of  reputations ; 
and  his  word  was  the  Law  of  all  Humanists.  But 
he  was  a  man  of  peace,  and  believed  that  the  reforms 
which  he  desired  in  letters  and  religion  could  be 
peacefully  brought  about  within  the  ancient  church. 
Hence  he  was  little  fitted  for  the  troubled  times  in 
which  his  last  years  were  passed.  His  influence 
declined,  and  he  sank  into  a  comparative  neglect 
which  was  little  to  his  taste.  He  died  at  Basel  in 
1536,  a  man  who  had  long  been  without  a  country, 
and  who  declared  indeed  that  "those  initiated  to 
the  worshij)  of  the  muses  have  all  the  same  father- 
land." 

(1)  While  Erasmus  labored  effectively  for  both 
branches  of  that  educational  reform  which  this  age 
needed,  his  services  in  promoting  conformity  to  cul- 
ture were  peculiarly  great.  From  Ids  reputation  for 
vast  learning,  from  his  mastery  of  all  the  resources 
of  language  and  style,  from  his  critical  skill  and  his 
command  of  argumentative  sarcasm,  he  was  specially 
equipped  to  enter  effectively  into  the  two-fold  con- 
test that  had  now  to  be  waged.  On  the  one  hand 
he  fought  against  Scholasticism  whiclt  was  en- 
trenched in  many  of  the  universities  and  secondary 
schools,  and  which  he  strove  to  overthrow,  not  onl}'- 
by  revealing  its  absurdities,  but  also,  with  the  true 
spirit  of  constructive  criticism,  by  substituting  the 
polite  literature  of  antiquity  in  instruction,  in  place 
of  the  bald   epitomes,  and  barbarous  and  tasteless 


EDUCATIONAL     OriNIONS  59 

crudities,  which  wore  all  that  scholasticism  had  to 
offer.  On  the  other  hand,  he  contended  against  the 
empty  imitations  of  the  hypercritical  Ciceronians, 
who  had  mistaken  the  form  of  antiquity  for  its 
essential  spirit,  and  who  compassed  heaven  and 
earth  to  collect  and  use  the  very  words  and  forms  of 
expression  of  Cicero,  forgetting  that  Cicero  had  used 
language  as  a  vehicle  for  the  ideas  which  were  cur- 
rent in  his  time,  and  which  therefore  differed  in 
many  essential  respects  from  those  which  were  of 
interest  to  men  living  nearly  sixteen  centuries  later. 

Into  this  double  crusade  he  entered  as  a  kind  of 
free  lance,  with  all  the  energy  of  his  peculiar  charac- 
ter ;  and,  by  his  witty  polemic,  by  his  critical 
editions  of  authors,  by  his  translation  of  Greek  works 
into  the  better-understood  Latin,  and  by  his  simpli- 
fication of  Grammars  and  Lexicons,  he  did  more 
than  any  other  man  of  his  age  to  promote  the 
triumph  of  the  classic  revival. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  his  preoccupation  is 
wholly  with  literature,  with  grammar  as  an  imple- 
ment,  and  with  exposition  of  Greek  and  Latin  litera- 
ture as  the  best  available  'means  of  intellectual  cul- 
ture. He  would  have  these  mastered  by  the  mem- 
ory, indeed  ;  but  he  differs  vitally  from  the  spirit  that 
he  criticizes,  in  the  emphasis  which  he  lays,  on  the 
necessity  of  freedom  of  thought  and  of  deep  medi- 
tation by  the  pupil  on  what  he  learns,  and  on  the 


60  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

need  of  training  youth  to  early  self-direction  and 
self-activity. 

He  not  only  desired  that  the  avenues  to  the  things 
then  most  worthy  of  heing  known,  should  be  laid 
oj^en  ;  but,  unlike  some  of  his  contemporaries,  he 
would  open  them  freely  to  the  greatest  number  pos- 
sible, to  women  as  well  as  to  men.  To  this  end  were 
intended  his  Greek  translations  and  his  collection  of 
illustrated  Adages,  as  well  as  his  already-quoted 
desire  that  the  Scriptures  should  be  made  accessible 
to  all  in  their  vernacular  speech.  He  vigorously 
denounces  the  thoughtlessness  of  parents  who  neglect 
the  education  of  their  children,  while  laboring  dili- 
gently to  win  fortunes  for  them.  "  What  profit,"  he 
exclaims,  "  or  what  honor  will  so  much  wealth  bring 
to  them,  if  they  know  not  how  to  use  it ! — If  he  for 
whom  you  amass  this  fortune  has  been  well  trained, 
this  is  an  instrument  which  you  furnish  for  his 
virtues ;  but  if  his  spirit  is  untutored  and  gross, 
what  have  you  done  but  to  furnish  him  means  to  do 
ill  and  to  be  criminal  ?  " 

Finally  Erasmus  did  an  important  service,  for 
promoting  the  triumph  of  the  best  means  of  culture 
over  ancient  prejudice,  by  reconciling  profane  letters 
with  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christianity,  its  Humani- 
tarian spirit.  In  that  age,  even  more  than  in  most 
ages  in  which  knowledge  and  science  are  making 
rapid  advances,  it  was  needful  to  overcome  the 
scruples  of  a  great  number  of  timid  souls  who  feared 


EDUCATIONAL     OPINIONS  61 

what  might  be  the  resuUs  of  any  innovation  in  the 
means  of  culture,  on  tlie  Christian  faith.  Such  men 
are  met  with  in  all  periods,  men  who  seem  to  fear 
that  truth,  and  especially  Christian  truth,  is  of  so 
fragile  materials  as  to  be  unable  to  endure  the  con- 
tact of  new  ideas.  They  were  especially  numerous 
in  the  16th  century ;  and  by  silencing  and  dispel- 
ling their  fears,  through  the  demonstration  that 
what  is  really  vital  in  Christianity  has  nothing  to 
fear  fronl  any  good  literature  or  useful  science,  Eras- 
mus did  much  to  aid  the  success  of  the  New  Learn- 
ing, and  "to  render  fruitful  that  meeting  of  the 
antique  and  the  Christian  spirit  from  which  sprung 
our  modern  civilization."  * 

(2)  Let  us  now  see  what  Erasmus  proposes,  to  im- 
prove the  methods  of  education  and  to  bring  them 
into  a  closer  conformity  with  nature. 

(a)  He  urges  strongly,  like  Quintilian,  the  judi- 
cious utilization  of  childhood,  when  memory  is  most 
plastic  and  impressions  most  indelible,  and  when 
the  child  may  learn  most  readily  the  elements  of 
many  things  which  are  highly  useful  in  mature  life. 
Thus,  he  thinks,  those  more  mature  years  may  be 
economized,  whilst  tlie  child  may  be  guarded  from 
vices  into  which  his  innate  activity,  if  not  wisely 
directed,  might  lead  him.  Hence  he  combats  as 
false  the  idea  that  children  should  do  no  study  until 
they  are  seven  years  of  age ;  yet  care  should  be 

*  Feugere  Vie  d'Erasme,  p.  454. 


62  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

taken,  he  thinks,  that  they  be  not  overtasked,  and 
that  whatever  they  learn  should  be  so  kindly  pre- 
sented as  to  be  a  pleasure.     He  would  have  especial 
care  given  during  these  early  years  to  morals  and 
maimers,  and  to  acquiring  a  pure  and  choice  use  of 
language,  to  a  lack  of  which  he  rightly  attributes 
many  later  defects  in  judgment  and  in  ability  to 
acquire  the  sciences.     Now  putting  aside  the  idea  of 
study  which  Erasmus  evidently  desires  to  impress, 
all  this  is  applicable  to  Kindergarten  efforts,  and 
clearly  expresses  much  of  their  substance  and  spirit. 
{b)  Again,  he  insists  that  all  the  efforts  demanded 
of   children    should   be   carefully    graduated    and 
adapted  to  their  powers ;  and  that  they  should  be 
made   as   far   as   possible    attractive,    yet   without 
neglecting  the  essential  difference  of  tvork  and  p^ay. 
See  how  he  presents  this  idea  :  "  In  like  manner  as 
the  body  in  early  years  is  nourished  by  small  por- 
tions given  at  intervals,  so  the  mind  of  the  child 
should  be  nourished  with  knowledge  adapted  to  his 
weakness,  and  presented  little  by  little  in  an  attrac- 
tive manner.     Thus  he  prepares  himself  for  more 
serious   tasks,   while  being  sensible  of  no  fatigue ; 
for  the  continued  and  kindly  presented  effort,  while 
costing  much  less,  assures  progress  and  gives  finally 
the  same  results.     But  there  are  people  who  wish 
that  children  become  men  in  a  day  ;  tliey  take  no 
account  of  age",  and  measure  the  strength  of  those 
tender  minds  by  their  own.     From    the  first,  they 


EDUCATIONAL     OPINIONS  63 

press  them  with  rigour,  expect  everything  from 
them,  frown  if  the  child  does  not  answer  their 
expectations,  and  are  excited  as  if  they  had  to  do 
with  men,  forgetting  doubtless  that  they  were  once 
children  themselves."  To  such  unreasonable  teach- 
ers he  addresses  the  admonition  of  Pliny, — "  Re- 
member that  this  is  a  child,  and  that  thou  once  wast 
one."  Here  w^e  have  clearly  and  forcibly  expressed 
the  idea  which  has  occupied  a  large  share  of  the 
attention  of  wise  schoolmen  in  our  own  times,  the 
due  gradation  of  studies  and  their  adaptation  to  the 
caj:)abilities  of  the  growing  mind. 

(c)  The  protest  of  Erasmus  against  the  brutality 
of  discipline,  then  everywhere  prevalent,  as  defeat- 
ing its  own  ends,  has  already  been  mentioned. 

{d)  Let  us  finally  observe  what  he  proposes  to  ren- 
der the  acquisition  of  knowledge  easy  and  agreeable. 
It  will  be  noted  here  that  he  advises  objective 
methods  for  teaching  reading,  which  he  com})lains 
that  teachers  take  three  or  more  years  in  doing. 
The  expedient  of  using  letters  cut  from  ivory  was 
doubtless  suggested  by  Quintilian  ;  but  to  this  he 
adds  others  wdiich  appeal  to  well-known  inclinations 
of  childhood,  such  as  making  letters  from  dainties 
and  permitting  the  child  who  names  them  rightly 
to  eat  them,  or  giving  a  prize  to  the  one  who  is  most 
successful  in  shooting  the  letters  with  arrows  and 
naming  them  rightly  when  hit.  It  is  significant 
also  that   in   criticising   some   current   method   o. 


64  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

teaching  the  alphabet,  he  objects  to  it  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  an  attempt  to  teach  the  unknown  by  that 
which  is  still  less  known. 

His  cliief  interest  is  turned,  as  has  been  said,  to 
the  study  of  languages  ;  but  in  this,  while  agreeing 
"that  the  elements  of  grammar  are  at  the  outset 
very  dry,  and  more  necessary  than  agreeable,"  he 
suggests  that  the  skill  of  the  teacher  should  here 
spare  the  child  a  good  part  of  repulsive  labor, 
especially  by  limiting  acquisition  to  what  is  simplest 
and  most  needful ;  and  he  derides  the  needless  com- 
plications and  difficulties  with  which  the  brain  of 
the  child  is  puzzled,  by  having  subjects  presented 
prematurely  or  in  bad  form  or  of  a  wholly  useless 
character.  Declaring  that  the  study  of  things  is 
more  profitable  than  that  of  ivords,  he  gives  some 
place  to  History,  Geography  and  Natural  History, 
but  only  as  auxiliaries  to  literature,  that  it  may  be 
the  better  understood.  He  also  proposes  for  pupils, 
exercises  in  composition  based  on  subjects  borrowed 
from  real  life  and  from  the  child's  own  experience ; 
and  though  some  of  the  subjects  named  by  his 
biographer,  Feugere,  argue  a  curious  idea  of  the 
expent^nce  of  children,  the  idea  is  none  the  less  good, 
because  of  its  imperfect  execution. 

Finally  he  proposes  to  make  the  mastery  of  Greek 
and  Latin  literature  easier  and  more  agreeable,  by 
arranging  the  authors,  both  poetic  and  prose,  in  the 
order   of  the  relative  difficulty  which  they  will  be 


EDUCATIONAL  OPINIONS 


65 


likely  to  present  to  learners.  His  arrangement  does 
not  entirely  agree  with  modern  practice ;  but  this 
consummate  scholar  had  certainly  earned  the  right 
to  have  an  opinion  in  a  matter  of  this  kind  ;  and 
his  attempt  was  certainly  also  a  noteworthy  one 
in  an  age  when  such  questions  as  proportioning  the 
difficulties  of  subjects  to  the  capacity  and  stage  of 
advancement  of  pupils,  had  not  yet  been  counted 
worthy  of  the  attention  of  scholars.* 

Giovjiiino  Ludovico  Vives,  1492-1540 

Vives,  born  1492  at  Valencia  in  S})ain,  friend  of 
Erasmus  and  Sir  Thomas 
More  who  looked  upon  him 
as  a  prodigy,  lecturing  with 
acceptance  at  Oxford  and 
Paris,  author  of  several 
pedagogic  treatises,  and 
dying  in  1540,  and  who  is 
called  by  Schmidt  one  of 
the  most  eminent  peda- 
gogues of  his  age,  ought  vives,  i49!^i54o 
not  to  be  wholly  unmentioned  in  a  history  of  educa- 
tion, though  his  name  has  sunk  into  some  obscurity. 
He  agrees  with  Erasmus  in  his  estimate  of  the  im- 
portance of  education,  in  regard  to  female  educa- 
tion, which  he  would  carry  far  enough  to  enable 

*  Tilt!  order  iu  which  Erasmus  sufjffests  that  Greek  and  Latin  authors 
should  be  read,  may  be  found  in  Compayre— "  Doctrines  de  1'  Education  en 
France,  Vol,  I.,  p.  128,  and  for  Latin  is  as  follows,— Terence,  Plautus,  Virgil, 
Horace,  Cicero,  Cffisar, 


66  THE    HISTORY    OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  reading  of  classic  authors,  in  the  emphasis 
which  he  lays  on  classic  literature  as  the  best  means 
of  culture,  and  in  despising  the  scholastic  practices 
which  taught  hoys  to  dispute  before  they  knew  any- 
thing to  dispute  about.  In  this  last  connection, 
however,  he  shows  himself  more  fair-minded  than 
Ramus,  presently  to  be  mentioned,  in  his  judgment 
of  Aristotle  ;  for  he  concedes  his  distinguished  merit, 
while  declaring  that  the  world  has  advanced  since 
the  days  of  Aristotle,  and  that  hence  his  opinions  are 
to  bo  examined  and  tested  on  their  merits  by  the 
results  of  enlarged  experience,  like  those  of  any 
other  man, — an  opinion  which  to  a  scholastic  seemed 
a  rank  heresy. 

I  desire  to  call  attention  only  to  two  points  in  his 
pedagogical  opinions.  (1)  His  ideal  of  the  teacher 
is  a  lofty  one.  He  should  have  fine  scholarly 
attainments,  that  he  may  be  able  not  only  to  teach, 
but  also  to  inspire  his  pupils  with  a  love  of  learning. 
He  should  have  a  faculty  for  imparting  what  he 
knows,  that  boys  may  learn  easily,  rapidly,  and 
pleasantly.  He  should  be  of  incorruptible  morals 
that  he  may  be  a  fit  example  for  all  those  who  come 
into  his  intimacy.  He  should  be  characterized  by 
paternal  feelings  towards  liis  pupils ;  and  should 
live  worthy  of  tlie  dignity  of  his  important  vocation, 
because  fully  conscious  of  its  dignity.  If  this  ideal 
of  the  teacher  as  he  should  be,  be  compared  with 
the  teacher  as  he  too  commonly  was  in  those  times, 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  67 

and  continued  to  be  for  more  than  two  centuries,  it 
will  be  seen  how  excellent  it  is. 

(2)  The  method  which  he  recommends  is  far  in 
advance  of  his  age,  embodying  much  that  is  best  in 
our  own  day.  For  he  would  have  all  studies  start 
from  the  pupil's  standpoint  of  experience,  and  would 
have  them  at  all  times  adapted  to  his  powers  of 
ai^prehension.  To  this  end  they  should  be  presented 
inductively,  the  rules  in  grammar  to  be  derived  from 
observation  of  examples  ;  the  starting  point  in  meta- 
physics to  be  in  observation  of  mental  phenomena ; 
and  in  the  study  of  nature,  he  would  have  the  pupil 
begin  with  the  observation  of  nature  as  the  true 
source  of  all  our  knowledge,  just  as  Sir  Francis 
Bacon  later  demanded.  Thus  Vivos  appeals  from  a 
'priori  theory  and  from  the  authority  of  the  ancients, 
to  actual  personal  experience. 

Moreover  he  would  have  the  Latin  explained  in 
the  vernacular  by  the  teacher,  at  that  time  a  most 
important  innovation.  It  is  also  interesting  to  ob- 
serve how  clearly  he  distinguishes  the  logical  order 
of  a  subject,  from  the  order  in  which  it  must  be 
presented  in  instruction  that  it  may  be  rightly  ap- 
prehended,— a  distinction,  it  may  be  said,  which  is 
far  from  being  observed  even  now  by  a  considerable 
number  of  teachers.  He  says,  "  doubtless  it  is  need- 
ful in  the  exposition  of  a  science  to  present  always 
what  is  best  and  most  perfect :  nevertheless  when 
we  teach,  it  is  needful  to  take  care  to  offer  nothing 


68  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

to  pupils  which  is  not  within  the  range  of  their 
comprehension.  The  artist  should  seek  perfection, 
and  translate  it  into  the  rules  of  art ;  it  is  for  each 
one  then  to  strive  to  attain  that  perfection  ;  but  the 
master  in  his  school  should  put  himself  at  the  level 
of  his  audience  ;  he  will  not  disfigure  science,  and 
will  not  teach  falsehoods  as  truths  ;  but  he  will  say- 
only  things  v/hich  his  hearers  can  comprehend." 

Pierre  Ramus,  1515-1572 

Pierre  Ramus,  born  in  1515  of  an  ancient  family, 
but  which  at  his  birth  was  so  reduced  that  his  father 
was  a  day  laborer ;  rising  by  the  sheer  force  of  talent 
to  be  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  time  ;  eloquent 
professor  in  the  College  of  France ;  pugnacious  re- 
former in  the  realms  of  science  and  in  the  university 
of  which  he  was  an  ornament ;  "  the  greatest  French 
philosopher  of  the  16th  century ; "  as  pedagogue, 
the  author  of  Latin,  Greek  and  French  grammars, 
of  a  system  of  logic,  and  of  treatises  on  arithmetic, 
geometry,  and  algebra  which  were  used  as  text- 
books for  a  century ;  one  of  the  earliest  adherents 
to  the  Copernican  system  ;  in  philosophy,  an  avowed 
enemy  to  scholasticism  with  its  hypotheses  and  fine- 
spun abstractions,  and  to  Aristotle  as  their  repre- 
sentative head ;  a  contemner  of  mere  authority, 
asserting  reason  as  the  supreme  criterion  of  truth  ; 
this  universal  genius  perished  in  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  1572,  a  victim  "in  striking  whom," 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  69 

says  Gompayre,  "  his  enemies  aimed  not  at  the 
Protestant ;  tliey  sk^w  rather  the  enemy  of  scholas- 
tics, tlie  adversary  of  the  old  methods,  the  indefati- 
gahle  denouncer  of  the  abuses  of  the  University."  * 

His  stormy  career,  made  even  more  stormy  than 
needful  by  his  early  attacks  on  Aristotle,  was  devoted 
to  securing  Conformity  to  Culture,  by  uprooting 
scholasticism,  by  reforming  the  plan  of  instruction 
in  the  University  of  Paris,  and  by  founding  Mathe- 
matics and  a  better  Logic.  Any  contributions 
towards  a  conformity  to  nature,  were  wholly  inci- 
dental to  this  chief  effort.  We  will  consider  his  ser- 
vices to  this  end  as  (1)  professor,  (2)  promoter  of  the 
use  of  the  vernacular,  (3)  reformer  of  logic,  (4) 
author  of  better  grammars,  and  (5)  reformer  of  the 
University. 

(1)  As  professor,  he  mingled  eloquence  and  liter- 
ature with  philosophy,  and  his  lectures  were  so 
interesting  as  to  attract  great  crowds  to  his  lecture 
room.  He  freed  jDhilosophy  from  the  barbarous 
forms  of  scholasticism.  He  treated  studies  "  after 
the  method  of  Socrates,  by  retrenching  the  super- 
fluity of  rules  and  precepts,  and  by  seeking  and 
illustrating  their  use, — thus  making  the  way  plain 
and  direct  to  come  more  readily,  not  only  to  the 
knowledge,  but  also  to  the  practice  and  use  of  the 
liberal  arts."  He  endeavored  to  introduce  into 
logic  a  certain  realism,  by  substituting  a  solid  an^ 

*  Hist.  Crit.  etc..  I.  p.  129.  " 


70  THE    TTTSTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATIOlSr 

natural  art  for  the  hollow  iiiediiBval  formulas,  and 
by  conforming  it  to  psychological  principles.  "  It 
ought,"  he  says,  "to  apply  itself  with  all  diligence 
to  find  what  nature  can  do,  and  how  she  proceeds 
in  the  use  of  reason."  In  all  things  he  vindicated 
the  principle  of  freedom  of  thought.  "  Reason,"  he 
declares,  "  ought  to  be  the  queen  and  mistress  of 
authority." 

(2)  In  an  age  when  Latin  was  the  almost  exclu- 
sive medium  of  communication  among  the  learned, 
and  when,  in  the  colleges  of  the  university,  and  in 
those  of  the  Jesuits  after  they  were  founded,  boys 
were  punished  for  using  anything  but  Latin  even  in 
familiar  conversation.  Ramus  aided  to  combat  the 
prejudice  against  the  vernacular.  He  demanded 
a  translation  of  the  Bible  into  French.  He  wrote 
also  a  French  Grammar,  for  the  use,  he  says,  "  of 
an  infinite  number  of  choice  spirits  who  are  capable 
of  all  sciences  and  knowledge,  and  who  yet  are 
deprived  of  them  from  the  difference  of  tongues." 

(3)  His  logic  written  in  French,  strove  to  free 
itself  from  Aristotle,  but,  says  Compayre,  in  this 
effort,  it  really  returned  to  the  true  logic  of  Aristotle, 
by  shaking  off  the  corruptions  of  scholasticism.  Its 
great  novelty  was  the  introduction  of  examples.  "  To 
have  the  real  laws  of  logic,"  he  says,  "it  is  not 
enough  to  prattle  about  its  rules  in  the  schools,  but 
to  practise  them  in  poets,  orators  and  philosophers." 
It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  a  century  after  the 


EDnCATIONAL    OriNIONS  71 

death    of  its    author,  in  1(572,  Milton  prepared    an 
abridgement  of  this  work. 

(4)  His  various  treatises  on  grammar  liad  for 
principle,  "  Few  precepts  and  much  use."  They 
were  also  correct,  and  even  elegant  in  form,  a  merit 
not  usual  in  that  age.  Though  they  seem  to  have 
had  little  credit  in  France,  they  were  largely  used 
in  Germany  and  Spain.  In  this  connection  it  may 
also  be  said  that  his  arithmetic  and  geometry  were 
long  used. 

(5)  In  his  demands  for  the  reform  of  the  Univer- 
sity, he  calls  for  a  reform  in  the  professors,  in  the 
expenses  imposed  on  students,  and  in  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  professional  departments.  As  for  the 
professors,  he  would  have  them  fewer  and  better. 
He  says  "  A  crowd  of  men  has  arisen  who  without 
any  choice,  as  well  ignorant  as  learned,  have  under- 
taken to  make  a  trade  of  teaching,  in  philosoi^hy, 
medicine,  jurisprudence,  and  theology.  Hence  has 
arisen  the  tempest  which  has  laid  waste  all  our 
fields."  To  this  fruitful  source,  the  excessive  num- 
bers of  professors,  often  very  incapable,  he  ascribes 
the  crushing  expenses  to  which  students  were  sub- 
jected. Thus  the  expenses,  which  in  arts  were  55 
francs,  were  for  two  years  in  medicine  881  francs, 
and  in  theology,  more  than  1000  francs.  Mucli  of 
this  went,  not  to  professors,  but  for  useless  form- 
alities in  a  tedious  course  of  circumlocution.  To 
remedy   this,  he  recommended  that  the  king   pay 


72  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  salaries  of  needful  professors,  and  exact  the 
money  therefor  from  the  monasteries,  "  who  would," 
he  sarcastically  says,  "  esteem  themselves  very  happy 
and  greatly  honored  to  make  this  expenditure,  if 
you,  (the  king)  only  commanded  them." 

Furthermore  he  comj^lains  that  the  instruction  in 
philosophy  has  been  made  private,  thus  requiring  a 
needless  number  of  professors,  of  whom  many  are 
inferior,  and  their  teaching  mostly  an  empty  dispute 
about  words  ;  that  mathematics  are  grossly  neglected 
"  without  which  all  philosophy  is  blind  "  ;  that  in 
the  higher  faculties,  the  professors  had  ceased  to 
profess,  contenting  themselves  with  being  present  at 
examinations,  and  even  making  a  merit  of  their 
indolence,  by  the  plea  that  it  was  better  for  students 
to  learn  privately  from  books,  whilst  Ramus  believed 
in  the  efficacy  of  good  lecturing  as  an  aid  to  students  ; 
that  the  faculty  of  law  had  abandoned  Civil  Law  to 
pay  exclusive  attention  to  Canon  Law  ;  that  the 
faculty  of  medicine  neglected  practical  exercises, 
clinics,  materia  medica,  and  dissections,  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  eternal  disputes  of  the  schools ; 
and  that  in  theology  they  do  not  study  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  in  the  original  tongues,  to  draw  as 
near  as  may  be  to  the  original  "  Divine  Light"  of 
religion,  "but  rather  a  certain  dung  and  filth  of 
question  books  derived  from  a  barbarism  elsewhere 
unknown  "  ;  besides  which  he  says  they  give  insuf- 
ficient attention  to  declamations  and  sermons. 


EDUCATIONAL     OPINIONS  73 

A  considerable  extract  from  this  vigorous  indict- 
ment of  the  university  has  seemed  to  be  here  in 
phicc,  not  merely  as  indicating  the  educational  views 
of  Ramus,  but  because  it  gives  an  inside  view  of 
the  kind  of  instruction  then  in  vogue  in  the  several 
faculties.  The  unsparing  tone  in  which  he  criticises 
abuses  also  leaves  little  reason  for  surprise  that  he 
raised  against  himself  a  swarm  of  enemies  whose 
sinecures  he  attacked,  and  who,  like  angry  hornets, 
seized  the  first  opportunity  to  sting  him  to  death. 

The  efforts  of  Ramus  to  secure  conformity  to  the 
best  means  of  culture  then  available,  did  not  cease 
even  with  his  death  ;  for  by  his  will  he  created  an 
endowment  for  a  chair  of  mathematics  in  the  College 
Royal,  which  for  more  than  two  centuries  was 
known  as  the  chair  of  Ramus,  which  every  three 
years  was  thrown  open  to  the  free  competition  of  all 
mathematicians,  and  which  gave  to  France  a  num- 
ber of  famous  geometers.  As  a  reformer  of  logic 
and  promoter  of  mathematics,  his  name,  after  his 
death,  became  the  distinguishing  badge  of  a  series 
of  illustrious  philosophers,  who  were  known  as 
Ramists  in  their  devotion  to  the  deductive  method. 

An  interesting  account  of  this  striking  personality 
may  be  found  in  Waddington's  Vie  de  Ramus,  from 
which  the  materials  for  tliis  sketch  have  been  in  the 
main  derived.  Also  Professor  Compayre,  in  his 
'*  Histoire  Critique  des  Doctrines  de  I'Education  en 
Frnnce,"  Vol.  I.  gives  a  charming  sketch  of  Ramus, 


74  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

of  which  a  trauslation  appears  in  the  30th  volume 
of  Barnard's  Journal  of  Education. 

Francois  Rabelais,  1495-1553 

Francois  Rabelais,  son  of  a  French  innkeeper, 
born  about  the  year  1495, 
or  as  it  is  sometimes  said 
in  1483,  and  counted  by 
Coleridge  "  one  of  the  bold- 
est and  deepest  thinkers  of 
his  age,"  was  bred  a  Fran- 
ciscan monk  ;  but  giving 
offence  to  his  brethren,  he 
was  imprisoned  by  them ; 
and  when  released  through  rabelais,  1495-1553 

the  intercession  of  his  friends,  he  was  transferred  to 
the  order  of  Benedictines.  Powerful  friends  with- 
drew him  from  his  monastic  seclusion,  and  he 
became  professor  of  medicine  in  Montpellier,  and 
later,  reviser  and  corrector  of  text  in  a  printing 
house.  Being  a  man  of  deep  and  far-reaching 
thought  in  times  when  such  thoughts  were  danger- 
ous commodities  to  handle,  he  was  led,  in  the  words 
of  Prof.  Morley,  "  to  the  conception  of  a  fantastic 
work  through  which  he  might  in  times  when  men 
thought  boldly  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  speak  home 
and  glance  on  to  the  higher  future  of  humanity, 
while  he  professed  only  to  shake  the  bells  upon  his 
fool's-cap." 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  75 

This  work  is  the  widely  famed  "  Life  of  Gargantua 
and  the  Heroic  Deeds  of  Pantagruel. "  The  hero  is 
Gargantua,  an  enormous  giant,  of  whose  vast  size 
we  gain  some  intimation  by  the  number  of  thousand 
ells  of  cloth  that  go  to  the  manufacture  of  his  vari- 
ous garments  ;  and  all  in  which  he  is  concerned  is 
conceived  on  the  same  vast  scale,  even  to  the  studi- 
ous labors  which  he  performs.  Under  the  guise  of 
this  gigantic  being  and  his  travels  and  adventures, 
with  those  of  his  equally  enormous  son,  Pantagruel, 
Rabelais  contrives,  without  much  danger  to  himself, 
to  convey  his  ideas  of  the  men  and  things  of  his  own 
time,  and  his  hopes  for  the  future  ;  and  when  he 
has  uttered  some  specially  daring  idea,  or  some  bold 
sarcasm  on  existing  institutions,  with  a  dextrous 
turn,  the  grave  moralist  disappears,  and  we  see  in 
his  place  only  the  good-natured  grin  of  the  merry 
Harlequin.  Who  would  think  to  call  to  serious 
account  a  harmless  jester,  amusing  himself  and  the 
world  after  the  manner  of  his  craft,  even  if  many  of 
his  jests  bite  to  the  quick  !  Under  his  conveniently 
grotesque  disguise,  therefore,  Rabelais  has  contrived 
to  become  with  impunity  the  keenest  and  wisest 
critic  of  his  own  times,  and  the  inspired  prophet  of  a 
better  future. 

What  solely  interests  us  here,  is  his  biting  satire 
of  the  scholastic  education  which  then  prevailed 
and  of  the  many  absurdities  connected  with  it ;  and 
his  theoretic  views  of  what  a  right  education  should 


76  The   history   of    MODElllSf    Et)UCATlON' 

be.  In  these,  under  his  grotesque  mask,  he  is  in 
full  harmony  with  Erasmus  and  Vives  ;  but  he  goes 
much  farther  than  either  of  them  in  tlie  direction 
of  modern  ideas,  in  regard  to  the  proper  subject- 
matter  of  education,  as  will  presently  appear. 

His  gigantic  hero  is  put  to  school  to  a  scholastic ; 
his  studies,  his  scholarly  efforts,  and  his  sports  are 
amusingly  related  ;  *  and  the  results  of  this  schooling 
have  a  sarcastic  emphasis  given  to  them,  when  after 
fifty -five  years  more  or  less,  (for  Rabelais  is  minute  to 
months  and  days)  given  to  this  kind  of  training,  its 
awkward,  basliful,  and  heljoless  victim,  ignorant  of 
all  that  he  should  know,  is  brought  into  contrast 
with  Eudemon,  a  properly  trained  lad  of  twelve,  and 
"  falls  to  crying  like  a  cow,  casting  down  his  face, 
and  hiding  it  with  his  caji."  Still  farther  ridicule 
is  heaped  upon  scholasticism,  in  the  grave  catalogue 
of  the  library  of  St.  Victor  f  in  which  a  long  list  of 
books  with  most  absurd  scholastic  titles,  is  given, 
with  a  seriousness  befitting  a  most  weighty  occasion. 

The  hero  is  now  transferred  to  the  more  judicious 
tutorship  of  Ponocrates,  the  teacher  of  Eudemon ; 
and  in  the  course  henceforth  pursued  by  him,  and 
in  the  subjects  he  is  set  to  study,  Rabelais  gives  us 
his  ideas  of  what  should  be  the  subject  matter  and 
method  of  right  education,  and  what  will  be  its 
probable  results.  |  Tutor  and  pupil  go  to  Paris  as 
the  centre  of  eidightenment ;  and  here  Rabelais  finds 

*  B.  I.  C"s  13,  31,  22.  t  B.  2,  C.  7.  t  C  1,  C'S  23  and  24. 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  77 

occasion  for  another  witty  tlirust  at  the  hated 
scholasticism  :  for  Gargantua  while  strolhng  ahout 
the  city,  takes  a  fancy  to  the  great  bells  of  Notre 
Dame  and  carries  them  to  his  lodgings  as  playthings 
and  appendages  to  his  horse.  Reclamation  of  the 
bells  is  made  by  Master  Janotus  de  Bragmardo,  a 
noted  sophister  ;  and  in  his  speech,  plentifully  inter- 
larded with  the  most  barbarous  Latin,*  great  fun 
is  made  of  the  wretched  scholastics.  In  all  this, 
apart  from  the  crusade  against  scholasticism,  and 
in  the  letter  which  Gargantua  when  king  writes 
to  his  son  Pantagruel,t  Rabelais  makes  manifest 
that  his  object  is  to  train  boys  for  the  practical 
activities  of  life,  to  make  them  useful  citizens  or  wise 
rulers. 

The  means  that  he  proposes  for  this  include  first 
of  all,  reverential  devotion  to  God,  not  only  by 
prayers  made  at  fitting  times,  but  by  a  pious  obser- 
vation of  his  works  and  meditation  upon  them 
morning  and  evening.  To  this  he  adds  care  for 
health  by  all  the  varieties  of  vigorous  exercise,  and 
by  the  constant  practice  of  neat  and  cleanly  habits  ; 
Gargantua,  he  says,  "  no  longer  combs  his  hair  with 
his  four  fingers  and  thumb."  For  intellectual  train- 
ing, great  emphasis  is  laid  on  language  study  ;  Latin 
is  a  matter  of  course,  as  a  means  for  gaining  all  the 
rest ;  but  of  Greek  he  says  that  "  without  it  a  man 
should  be  ashamed  to  account  himself  a  scholar  "  ; 

*B,  1,C.  19.  tB.  2,  c.  8. 


78  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

to  wliicli  also  he  would  add  Hebrew  and  Chaldaic, 
as  aids  to  Bible  study,  and  even  Arabic. 

So  far,  Rabelais  is  merely  in  touch  with  the  ideas 
of  other  theorists  of  his  age.  But  he  goes  much 
ftirther  than  they  in  what  he  conceives  that  Con- 
formity to  Culture  demands.  He  asks  for  a  fair 
acquaintance  with  mathematics,  astronomy  and  civil 
law ;  for  a  wide  knowledge  of  history ;  and  for  a 
singularly  exact  study  of  nature.*  He  demands  an 
acquaintance  with  the  usual  Arts  and  Trades,  to  be 
gained  by  visits  to  workshops  in  bad  weather,  f 
Finally  he  would  inculcate  a  taste  for  the  Fine  Arts, 
music,  painting,  and  sculpture,  with  skill  in  fencing, 
that  his  pupil  may  be  a  complete  man,  cultured  at 
all  points.  It  is  obvious  that  we  have  presented 
here,  by  this  seemingly  grotesque  jester,  a  singularly 
wise  and  comprehensive  scheme  of  study,  adapted 
to  give  a  complete  and  all-sided  culture. 

In  meeting  the  demands  of  a  due  Conformity  to 
Nature,  he  is  equally  judicious.  The  methods  that 
he  represents  as  used  with  Gargantua  are  eminently 
objective,  appealing  in  all  possible  cases  to  the  proj^er 
use  of  the  senses.  Real  object  lessons  are  given  at 
table  by  interesting  conversations  on  the  various 
articles  that  are  set  before  them.  Astronomy  is 
learned  by  observation  of  the  heavens.  Botany  is 
studied  in  the  fields,  with  plants  themselves,  at  first, 
and    next   by   comparing   the   plants    with   poetic 

*  B  2,  C.  8.  [  tB  I.  C.  24. 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  79 

descriptioiis  coutaincd  in  the  classics,  i.  e.  Rabelais 
recommends  "  first  tilings  aud  then  about  things," 
which  was  then  a  wholly  new  and  unexplored  world 
of  knowledge.  He  even  devises  means  for  the 
objective  illustration  of  abstract  sciences  like  geome- 
try and  arithmetic. 

Again,  he  observes  the  principle  that  has  now 
become  an  educational  axiom,  that  mental  discipline 
can  be  gained  only  by  the  personal  exertion  of  the 
mental  powers  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  Gargantua 
is  incited  to  self  activity,  by  being  encouraged  to 
independent  work,  by  suggestions  given  only  when 
he  is  at  fault,  and  by  being  roused  to  personal 
reflection  and  independent  thought  on  all  subjects 
that  are  presented  to  him. 

It  is  obvious  that  with  so  gigantic  a  pujDil,  no 
other  than  gentle  means  are  possible,  yet  Rabelais 
leaves  us  in  no  doubt  that  gentleness  is  with  him  a 
choice  rather  than  a  necessity.  Care  is  taken  at 
night  that  all  that  has  been  seen  or  read  during  the 
day,  shall  be  recapitulated  in  the  pupil's  own  form 
of  words.  Severe  study  is  duly  alternated  with 
vigorous  open-air  exercise  in  riding,  swimming  and 
wrestling,  in  playing  at  ball  and  tennis,  and  in 
other  games  in  which  active  youth  delight.  And 
finally  at  meal  times  and  in  leisure  hours,  Rabelais 
would  have  young  fellows  engage  in  improving  con- 
versation with  cultured  and  well-informed  men.  It 
will  thus  be  observed  that  Rabelais  proposes  in  point 


80  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

of  method,  all  that  is  most  vitally  important  iu  our 
modem  modes  of  iustruction. 

Reference.  Morley's  ed.  of  Rabelais.  Bk.  1,  C's. 
13,  14,  15,  17,  18,  19,  21,  22,  23,  24  and  Bk.  2,  C's 
7  and  8. 

Michel  Eyquem  de  Montaigne,  1533-1592 

The  last  of  the  group  of  theorists  which  we  are  to 
consider  in  this  century  is 
one  who  is  of  even  more 
importance  to  us  than  any 
of  the  rest,  because  of  the 
influence  which  his  views 
on  education  have  had  on 
John  Locke  and  on  Rous- 
seau. This  man  is  Michel 
Eyquem  de  Montaigne, 
born  of  a  noble  family  in  montaigne,  1533-1592 

1533  ;  so  trained  up  by  an  eccentric  father  that 
Latin  was  to  him  as  a  vernacular  ;  learned,  as  well 
in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  as  in  whatever  in 
his  own  age  was  most  elegant  and  refined  ;  and 
author  of  a  famous  series  of  essays  on  various  social 
and  philosophical  questions,  in  which  he  has  so 
judiciously  used  the  stores  of  his  vast  erudition  as 
to  give  a  new  value  to  what  he  has  borrowed.  He 
died  in  1592. 

His  educational  views  are  presented  chiefly  in  the 
Essays  on  "  Pedantry  "  and  on  "  The  Instruction  of 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  81 

Children,"  *  the  latter  of  which  is  addressed  to  Mme. 
Diane  de  la  Foix,  one  of  his  friends,  and  was 
intended  to  guide  her  in  bringing  up  her  children. 
Something  of  interest  in  this  regard  may  also  be 
gleaned  from  the  essay  on  "  The  Affection  of  Fathers 
to  their  Children."  f  His  essays  are  so  discursive 
and  withal  so  brilliant,  so  much  seems  worthy  to 
be  quoted  because  of  its  combination  of  weighty 
ideas  with  felicitous  expression,  that  I  find  it  es- 
pecially difficult  to  bring  the  matter  within  due 
compass,  and  to  give  it  that  particular  form  which 
for  the  sake  of  clearness  I  have  adopted  in  the 
other  writers  of  the  age. 

In  respect  to  conformity  to  culture,  his  polemic  is 
against  Pedantry,  glancing  only  indirectly  at  scliolas- 
ticism.  Montaigne  inveighs  eloquently  and  wittily 
against  the  mere  bookishness  of  his  times,  a  spirit 
which  was  satisfied  with  saying  "  Cicero  said  this," 
or  "these  are  the  very  words  of  Aristotle,"  and  so 
was  content  to  have  no  thoughts  of  its  own.  "  I 
love  not,  he  cries,  this  borrowed  and  mendicant 
sufficiency :  Even  if  we  could  be  learned  with  the 
wisdom  of  others,  we  can  at  least  be  wise  only  with 
our  own  wisdom.  I  hate  the  sage  who  is  not  wise 
for  himself."  He  compares  pedants  to  birds  who  go 
seeking  grain  which  they  bear  to  their  broods  with- 
out tasting  it  themselves  ;  to  one  who  goes  to  his 
neighbor's  to  warm  himself  but  neglects  to  carry 

♦Book I,  No's. 24  and 25.  +No.  8,  Bk  2. 


82  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

any  fire  home  with  liini ;  and  to  a  rich  but  igno- 
rant Roman  who  kept  several  learned  men  by  him 
to  express  on  various  subjects  opinions  which  were 
his  because  he  had  bought  them. 

Of  the  pupil  trained  in  this  bookish  way,  he  says, 
"  His  Latin  and  Greek  have  rendered  him  sillier 
and  more  presumptuous  than  before  he  loft  home. 
He  ought  to  bring  back  a  full  soul  whereas  it  is  only 
puffed  up;  and  he  has  merely  stuffed  in  place  of 
enlarging  it."  "What  a  harm  if  we  are  taught 
neither  to  think  well  nor  to  act  well."  Speaking  of 
reason,  he  thus  happily  defines  the  function  of  edu- 
cation :  "  For  she  is  not  to  give  light  to  the  soul 
which  has  it  not,  nor  to  make  a  blind  man  see :  her 
duty  is  not  to  furnish  one  with  eyes  but  to  train 
eyes, — to  regulate  one's  gait,  provided  he  has  sound 
and  serviceable  knees  and  feet."  It  would  appear 
that  the  Ciceronians  whom  Erasmus  had  belabored, 
had,  in  the  last  part  of  the  century,  been  trans- 
formed into  pedants,  with  like  results  to  culture ; 
since  neither  took  the  trouble  to  have  any  thoughts 
of  their  own. 

Montaigne,  because  he  esteems  education  "the 
greatest  and  most  important  task  of  the  human 
understanding,"  would  make  polite  letters  not  the 
end  to  be  sought,  but  the  means  whereby  faculties 
may  be  developed,  and  the  man  fitted  for  usefulness 
in  his  life-work.  Hence  he  lays  great  stress  on 
action  as  the  expression  of  real  knowledge.     "  These 


EDUCATIONAL    OPINIONS  83 

are  my  lessons,"  he  says ;  "he  has  profited  more 
by  them  who  does  them,  than  he  who  only  knows 
tlu'm. — He  will  not  so  much  say  his  lesson  as  he 
will  do  it :  he  will  repeat  it  in  his  actions  :  we  shall 
sec  whether  there  is  prudence  in  his  undertakings, 
kindness  and  justice  in  his  manners,  judgment  and 
grace  in  his  speech, . .  .moderation  in  his  sports,  tem- 
perance in  his  pleasures,  and  order  in  his  economy. 
The  true  mirror  of  our  instruction  is  the  course  and 
tenor  of  our  lives."  It  would  be  difficult  to  con- 
struct a  better  and  more  complete  description  of  the 
results  of  a  well-ordered  and  effective  education, 
training  judgment  by  its  use,  and  encouraging  inde- 
pendent thought,  that  its  sharers  may  become  men 
able  and  prudent,  efficient  and  virtuous. 

As  regards  the  discipline  of  schools,  ne  would 
have  the  course  of  instruction  characterized  by 
"austere  mildness,"  as  far  removed  on  the  one  hand 
from  weakness  and  effeminacy,  as  on  the  other  from 
that  violence  and  force  which  debases  and  dulls  a 
well-conditioned  nature.  "  If  you  desire  a  boy  to 
fear  shame  and  chastisement,  he  says,  do  not  harden 
him  to  them."  He  denounces  with  vigor  the  severi- 
ties of  the  schools  of  his  time,  and  says  that  when 
you  draw  near  to  them,  you  hear  only  cries  both  of 
children  begging  for  mercy,  and  of  masters  drunken 
with  rage.  He  would  rather  make  the  path  of 
learning  for  boys  a  flowery  one,  that  "  where  their 
profit  is,  there  may  also  be  their  pleasure." 


84  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

Of  the  means  of  training,  he  gives  a  generous 
assortment,  kicking  some  things  which  Rabelais 
recommends,  whilst  emphasizing  some  which  he 
omits.  He  sets  high  value  on  bodily  training  and 
fine  manners,  in  which  Locke  follows  him.  "  I 
desire,"  he  says,  "  that  outward  decorum  and  tact 
and  good  personal  habits  be  fashioned  at  the  same 
time  with  the  soul.  It  is  not  a  soul,  it  is  not  a  body 
that  we  train  ;  it  is  a  man,  and  it  is  not  fit  that  we 
should  separate  them."  The  last  sentence  we  shall 
recognize  as  an  old  acquaintance,  when  we  meet  it  a 
little  changed  in  Rousseau's  Emile. 

He  would  have  Latin  learned,  not  in  the  gram- 
matical way,  but  by  conversation  and  use  as  he 
himself  learned  it.  We  shall  see  that  Locke  also 
falls  in  with  this  idea.  Foreign  tongues  in  like 
manner  should  be  gained  by  means  of  the  inter- 
course of  travel  among  the  important  nations  who 
use  them.  Good  books  he  would  have  read  and 
thoroughly  digested,  to  form  the  judgment  while 
informing  the  mind, — an  act  which  he  aptly  illus- 
trates by  bees  which  plunder  flowers  of  their  sweets, 
but  make  of  them  honey  which  is  all  their  own. 
He  lays  much  stress  on  History,  "  the  anatomy  of 
philosophy,  by  which  the  most  secret  parts  of  our 
nature  are  penetrated  ; "  but  he  would  have  it  so 
studied  that  the  boy  may  gain  from  it,  not  mere 
facts,  but  the  power  to  judge  of  facts,  and  thereby 
to  attain  worldly  wisdom.     Science  should  be  so  far 


EDTTOATIONAL    OPTNIOXS  85 

studied,  as  to  give  that  general  view  of  nature  and 
of  our  i)lace  in  nature  which  befits  the  well-informed 
man  who  is  no  specialist.  Indeed,  being  chiefly 
intent  on  the  well-trained  gentleman  and  man  of 
affairs,  he  lays  his  chief  emphasis  on  Travel,  on  Con- 
verse with  men  and  things,  and  most  of  all  on 
Philosophy. 

He  would  have  a  juaicious  tutor  to  attend  the  boy 
on  his  travels  and  to  regulate  his  intercourse  with 
men  ;  and  he  exj)ects  from  travel  these  advantages  ; 
viz.:  removal  from  paternal  petting  and  injudicious 
fondness,  with  the  concomitant  strengthening  of  the 
body  and  steadying  of  the  nerves  ;  knowledge  of 
men  of  various  nationalities  and  stations,  their  man- 
ners, characters,  and  language,  that  the  boy  may 
learn  to  value  what  is  good,  and  to  contemn  what  is 
bad  ;  and  finally  that  the  lad  "may  rub  and  polish 
his  brains  against  those  of  others,"  and  by  this  wide 
knowledge  of  the  world,  may  early  correct  a  tend- 
ency to  narrow  views  of  things  and  to  provincialism 
in  judgment.  "  This  great  world,"  he  says,  "  is  the 
mirror  in  which  we  must  see  ourselves,  in  order  to 
know  ourselves  aright.  So  I  wish  that  this  be  the 
book  of  my  scholar.  So  many  national  characters, 
sects,  judgments,  opinions,  laws,  and  customs,  teach 
us  to  have  a  healthy  judgment  of  our  own,  and 
train  our  reason  to  recognize  our  own  imperfection 
and  native  weakness,  which  is  no  mean  schooling." 

Philosophy  ho  defines  as  having  "virtue  for  her 


^6  TPIE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

aim Her  fit  and  proper  office  is  to  know  how  to 

enjoy  good  things  temperately,  and  to  lose  them  with 

fortitude It  seems  to  me  that  the  first  teachings 

with  wliich  we  should  nourish  the  soul,  should  be 
those  which  regulate  its  manners  and  its  feelings, 
which  teach  it  to  know  itself,  to  know  both  how  to 
live  well  and  how  to  die  well."  What  Montaigne 
means  by  philosophy  in  education  is  evidently  what 
we  slibuTd  term  a  proper  training  of  the  feelings  and 
morals,  and  this  philosophy,  he  justly  says,  "  A  child 
as  soon  as  he  leaves  his  nurse  is  much  more  capable 
of  learning,  then  he  is  to  learn  to  read  or  write. 
Philosophy  has  its  lessons  for  the  infancy  of  man  as 
well  as  for  his  decline."  The  Hkeness  of  this  to 
Herbart's  demand  for  educative  instruction  is  suffi- 
ciently striking. 

Such  seem  to  us  to  be  the  most  important  points 
in  Montaigne's  essays  which  concern  the  theory  of 
education,  its  spirit,  its  purposes,  and  its  means. 
Much  of  it  we  shall  meet  again  in  Locke,  but  pre- 
sented in  a  loftier  spirit.  As  for  the  boy  who  shows 
himself  incurably  disinclined  to  this  elegant  nurture, 
Montaigne  bluntly  says,  "  I  know  no  other  resource 
than  to  make  him  a  pastry  cook  in  some  good  city, 
even  were  he  the  son  of  a  duke." 

So  far  as  concerns  any  tentatives  of  Montaigne 
looking  to  conformity  to  nature,  it  promises  well  for 
him  that  at  the  outset  he  clearly  recognizes  the  great 
difficulty,  as  well  as  the  importance  of  right  nurture. 


£l)tJCA'riONAL   OPINIONS 


g7 


This  difficulty,  ho  sees,  arises  from  the  obscurity  of 
the  signs  of  infant  incHnations,  and  tiie  consequent 
uncertainty  of  the  judgments  based  on  the  "  sUght 
guesses  which  we  form  from  the  movements  of  this 
period  of  Hfe."  Hence  it  happens,  he  says,  that 
"  for  lack  of  having  chosen  their  course  aright,  one 
often  labors  to  no  purpose,  and  wastes  much  time  in 
training  children  for  that  in  which  they  can  never 
excel."  To  obviate  this  difficulty,  he  proposes  to 
limit  early  efforts  "to  guiding  them  only  to  those 
things  which  are  [universally]  best  and  most  profit- 
able." This  idea  is  probably  the  germ  which  the 
paradoxical  Rousseau  expanded  into  his  fancy  of 
losing  time  to  gain  time. 

Still  farther,  he  would  choose  a  tutor  with  a  mind 
strong  and  well-balanced  rather  than  very  full ;  and, 
while  he  would  like  both,  he  would  prefer  good 
manners  and  a  sound  understanding,  to  mere  knowl- 
edge. This  tutor  he  would  then  have  guide  his 
charge  in  "  a  new  way."  This  new  way  implies  the 
most  complete  self-activity  of  the  child  in  the  free 
exercise  of  all  his  powers,  in  personal  application  of 
what  he  knows,  and  especially  in  the  use  of  judg- 
ment on  all  that  comes  before  him.  He  says  of  the 
tutor,  "  According  to  the  nature  of  the  spirit  that 
he  has  in  hand,  let  him  begin  by  putting  him  to  the 
test,  permitting  him  to  taste  of  things,  to  choose 
them,  to  discern  by  himself, — sometimes  opening  the 
door    for    liim,  sometimes    leaving  him  to  open    it 


88  THE    HISTORV    OK    MODERN     KDUfATlON 

himself."  The  tutor  should  accommodate  himself 
to  the  ability  of  his  pupil,  a  task  which  Moutaigne 
acknowledges  to  be  not  easy,  but  rather  "  a  mark 
of  a  lofty  and  very  strong  spirit  to  know  how  to  con- 
descend to  those  childish  steps  and  to  guide  them." 

Futhermore  he  insists  abundantly  on  observation 
and  experience  of  things,  rather  than  mere  books,  in 
instruction.  To  this  end  is  intended  the  foreign 
travel  and  the  converse  with  men,  on  which  ho  lays 
much  stress.  In  ridiculing  mere  word-splitting  and 
the  quibbles  of  logicians,  he  says  "  let  us  leave 
them  to  misuse  their  leisure ;  we  have  other  busi- 
ness.    Let  our  disciple  be  provided  with  things :  the 

words  will  follow  but  too  abundantly I  wish  that 

tilings  predominate,  and  that  they  so  fill  tlie  fancy 
of  the  listener,  that  he  shall  have  no  recollection  of 
the  words."  And  of  those  who  say  they  know,  but 
cannot  express  what  they  know,  he  says,  "  In  my 
opinion  these  are  mere  shadows  of  formless  concep- 
tions, which  they  are  unable  to  unravel  and  make 
clear  within,  and  so  cannot  express  outwardly." 
This  can  hardly  fail  to  recall  Cato's  famous  saying 
"  Get  a  firm  grip  on  the  matter,  and  words  will  fol- 
low fast  enough." 

His  final  word  is  this  :  "  There  is  nothing  like 
satisfying  an  appetite  and  desire  for  knowledge : 
otherwise  we  becomo  mere  asses  loaded  with  books  : 
we  give  to  boys  with  blows  of  a  whip,  a  jwcket-full 
of  science  to    keep,  whereas  to   do  well,  it   is   not 


EDUCATIONAL  OPINIONS  89 

enough  to  merely  lodge  it  with  them  ;  they  should 
espouse  it."  The  key  notes  to  his  pedagogic  method 
then  are  these, — Self  activity  of  the  pupil  in  the  use 
of  all  his  powers  and  capabilities  ;  things  before 
words ;  judgment  and  understanding  before  mem- 
ory ;  adaptation  of  instruction  to  the  pupil's  present 
abilities. 

Let  us  now  briefly  summarize  the  educational  ser- 
vices of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  take  account  of 
the  more  or  less  novel  pedagogical  ideas  which  dur- 
ing its  course,  were  expressed  by  distinguished  men. 

The  battle  has  been  fought  and  won  against  mere 
ancient  autliority  in  the  realm  of  thought,  and,  in 
that  of  letters,  against  scholasticism  and  pedantry, 
whether  masquerading  under  the  garb  of  Cicero  or 
in  a  parti-colored  coat  made  up  of  a  patch-work  of 
otlier  men's  ideas.  As  incidents  of  this  victory,  the 
now  Humanistic  learning  has  won  its  way  largely 
into  the  old  universities  and  secondary  schools  ;  a 
thorough  reform  and  reorganization  of  the  venerable 
university  of  Paris  has  been  proposed  by  Ramus  ; 
and  the  human  mind  has  very  widely  begun  to 
assert  its  right  to  think  freely,  as  it  will,  and  on 
whatever  it  will. 

Proposals  have  been  made  to  widen  the  range  of 
studies, — through  the  introduction  of  history  by 
Luther,  Rabelais,  and  Montaigne, — of  natural  his- 
tory by  Rabelais, — and  of  mathematics  by  Ramus, 
who  emphasized  his  recommendation  by  the  endow- 


90  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ment  of  a  chair  of  mathematics.  A  demand  for  the 
better  education  of  women  has  been  made  by  Eras- 
mus, by  Luther,  and  by  Vives.  A  thorough  physi- 
cal training  has  been  insisted  upon  by  Erasmus  and 
Luther,  by  Rabelais  and  Montaigne.  The  need  of 
careful  attention  to  morals  and  manners  has  been 
emphasized  by  all  save  Ramus  ;  and  religion  has 
been  declared  to  be  the  needful  basis  of  moral  train- 
ing by  all  save  Montaigne,  whose  philosophy  bears 
the  stamp  rather  of  the  teachings  of  such  enlightened 
heathen  as  Seneca  and  Plutarch  than  of  Christ. 
Much  therefore  has  been  done  to  conform  education 
to  the  best  means  of  culture  available  in  that  age, 
or  to  show  where  such  conformity  was  still  needful. 
Again,  the  chief  source  of  difficulty  in  securing 
conformity  to  nature  in  instruction  has  been  clearly 
indicated  by  Montaigne  ;  the  great  pedagogical  prin- 
ciples, of  assuring  the  intellectual  co-operation  of 
pupils,  of  adapting  instruction  to  their  ability  to 
grasp,  at  all  times  and  in  all  subjects,  and  of  the 
need  to  use  objective  methods  and  to  present  subjects 
inductively — first  the  thing  and  then  about  the 
thing,  have  been  proposed  to  succeeding  ages  to  be 
by  them  adapted  to  the  use  of  schools  :  and  Vives 
has  also  made  clear  the  difference  between  the  logi- 
cal order  of  subjects  and  the  order  in  which  they 
should  be  presented  to  the  youthful  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  IV 

DISTINGUISHED   TEACHERS    OP    THE   SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY 

Philip  Melauclithoii,  1497-1560 

VI.  Foremost  among  the  practical  educators  of 
this  century  must  be  named 
PhiHp  Melanchthon,  the 
companion  and  judicious 
adviser  of  Luther  in  the 
rehgious  reformation.  He 
was  born  son  of  a  pious 
and  respectable  armorer 
named  Schwarzerd,  in 
1497,  and  died  1560  in 
Wittenberg  where  he  had  melanchthon,  1497-1560 
been  more  than  forty  years  professor.  His  early 
education  was  carried  on  under  charge  of  his  mater- 
nal grandfather,  who  thrashed  him  soundly  when 
he  made  mistakes  in  grammar,  "  in  which  wise," 
says  Melanchthon,  "  he  made  a  grammarian  of  me." 
His  early  promise  attracted  the  notice  of  his  uncle, 
the  famous  Reuchlin,  who  translated  his  name 
Schwarzerd  into  its  Greek  equivalent  Melanchthon, 
after  the  scholarly  fashion  of  the  age.  He  received 
the  bachelor's  degree  in  Heidelberg  at  the  early  age 

(91) 


92  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

of  fourteen,  and  then  went  to  Tubingen  where  he 
caught  the  enthusiasm  of  the  New  Learning,  received 
his  master's  degree  at  seventeen,  and  when  barely 
nineteen  pubHshed  an  edition  of  Terence,  whom  lie 
recommended  "  esiDccially  to  youth  as  a  teacher  of 
life  and  of  language."  He  mastered  Greek  ;  read 
Aristotle  in  the  original  that  he  might  know  his 
dialectics  and  philosophy,  unmixed  with  scholastic 
corruptions ;  studied  mathematics,  and  even  law 
and  medicine ;  and  in  his  twenty-first  year  pub- 
lished his  Greek  grammar.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  on  recommendation  of  his  uncle,  Reuchlin,  he 
was  made  professor  of  Greek  at  Wittenberg  where 
he  remained  till  the  close  of  his  active  and  useful 
life. 

His  educational  services  here  were  three-fold,  as 
professor,  as  school  organizer,  and  as  author  of 
grammars,  editions  of  classics,  and  several  other 
text-books  for  school  use. 

As  professor,  his  activity  was  extraordinary,  and 
the  range  of  his  instruction  astonishing.  He  lec- 
tured, says  von  Raumer,  on  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament, on  dogmatics,  ethics,  logic,  and  physics  ;  and 
"  besides,  interpreted  a  crowd  of  Greek  and  Latin 
authors."  His  lectures  treated  subjects  so  funda- 
mentally and  clearly,  and  withal  "with  such  elo- 
quence, as  to  attract  to  them  a  crowd  of  students, 
which  reached  at  times  2000  in  number.  His  influ- 
ence over   his   students    was   seldom  equalled ;  an 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  93 

influence  which  was  due,  not  merely  to  his  merited 
reputation  as  an  instructor,  but  also  to  his  uniform 
kindly  care  for  their  interests,  his  wise  counsels  in 
their  difficulties,  and  his  frequent  extra-professorial 
help  in  their  undertakings.  "  I  can  truthfully 
declare,"  he  says  himself  in  an  academic  discourse, 
"  that  I  embrace  all  students  with  a  paternal  care 
and  interest,  and  am  deeply  concerned  in  all  that 
may  bring  them  into  danger,"  a  declaration  which 
his  entire  career  as  a  teacher  confirms.  From  his 
instructions  went  forth  several  men  animated  by  his 
spirit,  to  become  famous  directors  of  schools,  amongst 
whom  were  Trotzendorf  and  Michael  Neander,  pres- 
ently to  be  mentioned.  Through  this,  as  well  as 
other  services  rendered  to  the  Renaissance  in  its 
early  years,  he  won  the  title  of  "  Preceptor  of  Ger- 
many," as  Rabanus  Maurus  had  seven  centuries 
earlier  been  called  "  First  Preceptor  of  Germany." 
The  text-books  which  he  prepared  for  schools, 
were  a  farther  means  of  extending  his  influence  in 
promoting  the  new  learning.  His  Greek  and  Latin 
Grammars  were  written  for  the  use  of  his  pupils. 
In  a  later  edition  of  the  latter,  in  which  he  enters 
upon  the  praise  of  grammar,  he  says  significantly, 
"  In  my  first  edition  some  things  were  missed.  It 
should  be  added  that  too  many  rules  ougJtt  not  to  be 
given  lest  boys  be  frightened  away  by  prolixity." 
In  his  text-book  of  logic,  which,  like  the  two  preced- 
ing ones,  was  pubhshed  in  his  early  manhood,  he 


94  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

says  "  The  earlier  (i.  e.  scholastic)  dialect  has  fallen 
into  contempt,  because  it  was  no  art,  but  only  the 
shadow  of  an  art,  and  led  into  endless  labyrinths. 
But  I  present  the  true,  unadulterated  dialectic,  as 
we  have  received  it  from  Aristotle  and  some  of  his 
discreet  expounders.  Instead  of  denouncing  Aris- 
totle, like  Ramus,  because  of  the  absurdities  which 
had  been  attached  to  his  system  during  ignorant 
ages,  Melanchthon  undertakes  to  present  the  real 
logic  of  Aristotle.  His  text-book  of  rhetoric  pub- 
lished when  he  was  only  twenty-two,  was  intended 
as  an  elementary  introduction  to  the  rhetorical 
works  of  Cicero  and  Quintilian.  He  wrote  also 
text-books  of  physics  and  ethics,  the  latter  in  the 
form  of  a  commentary  on  Aristotle's  Ethics.  All 
these  text-books  were  characterized  by  clearness  of 
definition,  orderliness  of  arrangement,  and  simple 
elegance  of  language.  They  were  long  and  widely 
used,  passed  through  several  editions,  and  had  great 
influence  in  Germany. 

Melanchthon  also  heartily  interested  himself  in 
school  organization,  through  which  he  exerted  a 
vast  influence  in  Germany,  as  well  by  wise  and 
timely  advice  given  to  those  who  purposed  establish- 
ing schools,  as  by  his  plan  for  organizing  the  schools 
of  Saxony,  which  grew  out  of  his  visitation  of  the 
Saxon  schools  and  churches  in  1527.  In  this  plan 
he  says  that  "  parents  should  send  their  children  to 
school  in  God's  name,  and  train  them  for  the  Lord 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  95 

God,  that  IIo  may  use  them  for  the  good  of  others  " 
in  both  church  and  state.  In  liis  schools  he  would 
have  "  Latin  only,  not  German,  Greek,  or  Hebrew 
studied,"  that  the  children  might  not  be  overloaded 
with  either  subjects  or  books,  to  the  end  that  they 
might  learn  something  well. 

The  schools  should  be  organized  in  three  separate 
troops  or  grades,  in  the  first  of  which  the  children 
should  be  taught,  reading,  writing,  and  a  good  stock 
of  Latin  words,  together  with  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
the  Creed,  and  a  few  prayers ;  in  the  second,  were 
to  be  pursued  grammar  and  Latin  reading  of  the 
simpler  kind,  also  music,  and  portions  of  the  scrip- 
tures to  be  well  learned,  with  easy  explanations  of 
Christian  doctrines  and  duties.  The  third  grade 
was  to  be  comj^osed  of  the  elite  youth,  who  besides 
music,  were  to  read  the  Latin  authors  of  the  higher 
sort,  and  to  be  held  to  speak  Latin  and  write  Latin 
letters  and  verses.  The  boys  in  this  and  in  the 
second  grade  were  to  be  thoroughly  drilled  in  gram- 
mar ;  for  Melanchthon  believed  that  "  no  greater 
harm  can  be  done  to  all  arts,  than  when  the  youth 
is  not  well  practised  in  grammar,"  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  been  thoroughly  beaten  into  him. 

Such  were  Melanchthon 's  somewhat  artless  ideas 
of  a  proper  school-system,  marked  possibly  by  the 
crudity  of  a  first  effort  at  organization,  but  more 
probably  controlled  in  form  by  the  fewness  of  teach- 
ers in  the  schools  of  his  time.     We  shall  find  this 


96  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

effort  greatly  improved  in  the  work  of  Sturm,  the 
great  school  organizer  of  the  16th  century,  whose 
plan  was  adapted  for  schools  well  equipped  with 
teachers. 

Johaiin   Sturm,  1507-1589 

We  shall  do  well  to  review  next  tlie  services  of 
the  most  renowned  teacher 
of  the  age,  one  whose  school 
organization  has  left  its 
impress  on  the  secondary 
school  system  of  all  north- 
ern Europe  since  his  day, 
Johann  Sturm,  of  Stras- 
burg.  Born  in  1507,  of 
respectable  parents  whose 
memory  he  always  held  in  sturm.  i507-i589 

grateful  esteem,  he  received  his  earliest  schooling 
with  the  sons  of  the  nobleman  whom  his  father 
served  as  treasurer.  In  his  early  youth,  he  was  for 
some  years  a  pupil  in  Liege  of  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life,  from  whose  school  he  went  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  to  Louvain,  where  he  spent  three  years 
as  student  and  two  as  teacher.  Thence  he  went  to 
Paris,  where  he  studied  medicine,  logic,  and  the 
Greek  and  Latin  classics,  where  also  he  married, 
and  had  a  large  number  of  boarding  students  of 
several  nationalities.  At  the  age  of  thirty,  his 
growing  reputation  caused  him  to  be  called  to  Stras- 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  97 

burg,  whose  schools  were  in  a  wretched  condition, 
to  organize  there  the  gymnasium  whose  success  was 
to  give  him  a  lasting  fame.  He  remained  at  its 
head  for  forty-seven  years,  when  he  was  displaced  as 
the  result  of  a  bitter  church  quarrel,  and  died  five 
years  after  in  1589,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two. 

The  fame  of  his  school  drew  to  it  students  from 
far  and  near,  so  that  it  is  said  of  it  that  in  1578  its 
pupils  numbered  several  thousand,  drawn  from  no 
less  than  eight  nations  and  from  all  social  ranks, 
from  princes  to  the  sons  of  peasants ;  and,  as  has 
just  been  said,  it  became  a  model  for  a  great  num- 
ber of  other  schools,  amongst  which  were  those  of 
England.  Its  reputation  was  due  to  its  clearly 
defined  aim,  its  thoroughly  systematic  organization 
with  due  gradation  of  studies,  and  the  thorough 
scholarship  which  was  gained  in  all  that  was  taught. 
Its  aim  was  to  train  pious,  learned,  and  eloquent 
men,  and  this  it  pursued  faithfully  and  exclusively. 
The  means  that  were  used  to  secure  this  end,  were 
exclusively  literary ;  for  religion,  an  acquaintance 
with  the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  much  of  which 
was  to  be  memorized,  together  with  the  Catechism  ; 
for  learning,  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
classic  authors  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;  for  eloquence, 
an  elementary  study  of  rhetoric  and  dialectics,  illus- 
trated and  practised  upon  during  the  last  three 
years  in  the  ancient  orators  and  poets. 

From  the  examinations  which  were  to  be  given 


98  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

in  the  last  year  of  the  gymnasial  course,  it  would 
seem  also  that  some  very  rudimentary  acquaintance 
with  mathematics  and  astronomy  was  given.  Of 
other  branches  there  was  no  mention.  His  aim 
therefore  was  perfectly  simple  and  definite,  and 
equally  definite  and  simple  were  the  means  by  which 
he  strove  to  attain  it.  Likewise  both  aim  and  means 
were  in  complete  accord  with  the  ideal  of  his  age. 
This  ideal  was  the  attainment  of  eloquence  in  the 
Latin  tongue  by  means  of  the  imitation  of  the 
ancient  authors,  who  were  supposed  to  have  ex- 
hausted all  the  possibilities  of  knowledge.  Indeed, 
according  to  Paulsen,  there  had  arisen  in  this  age 
a  i^edagogy  which  represented  "  the  lack  of  eloquence 
as  the  source  of  all  evils  in  the  culture  and  morals 
of  the  clergy,  and  which  believed  that  with  eloquence 
would  enter  also  wisdom  and  virtue  which  are  in- 
sejiarably  united  with  it." 

Sturm's  method  of  teaching  both  Latin  and  Greek, 
aside  from  the  thorough  drill  in  grammar  which 
was  always  to  be  given,  was  that  of  double  transla- 
tion from  Latin  into  German  and  vice  versa,  from 
Greek  into  Latin  and  then  back  into  Greek.  A 
recommendation  occurs  in  his  directions  to  the 
teacher  of  the  fifth  class  which  is  so  similar  to  one 
of  Roger  Ascham's  expedients  that  it  deserves  to  be 
quoted.  "  It  is  a  good  j^ractice  to  cause  some  pas- 
sage from  the  Latin  orators  to  be  translated  into 
German,  and  then  to  give  it  in  the  school  to  be 


DISTINGUISPIED    TEACHERS  99 

translated  back  into  Latin  extempore ;  since  the 
Roman  orator  himself  plays  the  part  of  corrector 
instead  of  the  teacher."  Besides  this  reciprocal 
translation,  there  was  much  composition  and  verse- 
making,  and  a  constant  use  of  Latin  as  a  means  of 
communication.  In  the  later  years  of  instruction, 
the  boys  also  took  part  in  Greek  and  Latin  comedies. 

The  pedagogic  ideas  which  controlled  Sturm's 
methods,  and  which  have  been  reserved  for  this 
place  because  they  likewise  gave  color  to  his  plan  of 
organization,  were  briefly  these  : — all  subjects  are 
to  be  kept  carefully  within  the  range  of  the  present 
abilities  of  the  pujjils  :  all  teaching  is  to  be  made 
perfectly  clear  and  definite  :  little  is  to  be  demanded 
at  a  time,  but  that  little  is  to  be  thoroughly  mastered 
and  frequently  reviewed  ;  religion  is  to  be  taught  by 
interpretation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  by  mem- 
orizing considerable  passages  thereof. 

With  regard  to  Sturm's  plan  of  organization,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  the  very  earliest 
scheme  that  we  have,  looking  to  an  extended,  syste- 
matic, well-articulated  course  of  studies  for  a  school 
of  several  teachers,  in  which  is  assigned  to  each 
class  such  portions  of  the  subject-matter  of  the 
course  of  instruction  as  is  suited  to  the  age  and  stage 
of  advancement  of  its  pupils.  The  schools  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  as  we  have  already  seen,  bore 
no  such  systematic  character.  Tlie  autobiographic 
account  of  Walafried  Strabo  in  the  ninth  century, 


100  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

gives  no  indications  of  sucli  a  2)lan  in  one  of  tlie  best 
monasteries  in  this  most  enlightened  century  of  the 
Dark  Ages.  Tlie  simple  p^nn  of  Melanchthon  which 
has  recently  been  mentioned,  and  the  somewhat 
earlier  three-class  plan  of  Agricola,  bear  no  compar- 
ison with  the  elaborate  and  thoroughly  progressive 
scheme  of  Sturm. 

This  program,  which  seems  to  have  had  its  sug- 
gestions in  what  he  saw  among  the  Brethren  of 
Deventer,  contemplated  a  gymnasial  course  of  nine 
years,  which  later  was  extended  to  ten.  It  began 
at  the  age  of  seven  years  and  ended  at  sixteen  or 
seventeen.  To  this  course  succeeded  an  academic 
course  of  five  years,  in  which  the  instruction  was 
given  by  lectures.  The  school  training  was  thus 
to  end  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty-two.  The 
first  seven  years  were  to  be  devoted  to  gaining  a 
pure  and  fluent  use  of  the  Latin  ;  the  next  two  or 
three,  to  acquiring  ornate  and  logical  speech  ;  the 
last  five,  to  gaining  the  ability  to  speak  aptly  and  to 
the  point. 

The  details  of  this  plan  are  much  too  lengthy  to 
be  given  here  even  in  outline  ;  but  they  may  be 
found  in  full  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of 
Education,  Vol.  4th,  pp.  167  and  401,  translated 
from  the  first  volume  of  von  Raumer's  History.  It 
will  be  found  interesting  and  instructive  to  peruse 
the  careful  instructions  given  to  his  associates  ;  and 
the  intelligent  school  manager  will  be  likely  to  rise 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  101 

from  its  perusal  filk^d  with  admiration  for  the  peda- 
gogic genius  of  him  wlio  devised  it.  For,  as  the 
head-master  of  Harrow  has  very  recently  said,  "it 
is  the  time-table  which  is  the  test  of  the  modern 
schoolmaster  ;  it  is  there  that  he  may  win  his  main 
success.  Yet  it  is  only  he  who  has  been  called  on 
to  essay  it  that  knows  where  the  difficulty  lies,  and 
how  great  it  is." 

Yalentine  Trotzendorf  and  Michael  Neander 

Let  us  now  briefly  sketch  the  pedagogic  career  of 
two  of  Melanchthon's  pupils,  who  became  famous 
in  their  day  for  some  special  features  of  their  method 
of  teaching  and  management,  which  seem  to  me 
curious  and  instructive.  These  men  were  Valentine 
Trotzendorf  and  Michael  Neander.  The  early  edu- 
cation of  Trotzendorf,  who  was  born  of  a  peasant 
family  in  1490,  in  a  village  whose  name  he  adopted 
as  his  own,  was  somewhat  interrupted  and  neglected. 
Wlion  twenty-two  years  old,  he  sold  his  small  inher- 
itance, and  went  for  two  years  to  Leipsic,  where  he 
gained  a  knowledge  of  Latin  and  some  acquaintance 
with  Greek  ;  when  twenty-six  he  became  teacher  of 
a  school  near  his  home  ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  was 
twenty-eight  years  old  that  he  threw  up  his  place 
and  went  to  Wittenberg  where  for  five  years  he  was 
under  the  strong  influence  of  Melanchthon  and  be- 
came an  excellent  scholar.  Then  he  went  to  Gold- 
berg, first  as  assistant  and   later  as  rector  of  the 


102  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

school,  aud  there  he  spent  the  remainder  of  liis  life, 
save  an  interval  of  four  years,  so  earnestly  devoted 
to  his  duties  as  never  to  marry.     He  died  in  1556. 
The  end  that  he  proposed  to  himself  was  "  that 
the  boys  should  be  fitted  hereafter  to  study  in  the 
higher  faculties  "  of  the  universities.     To  this  end, 
"  first  of  all  grammar  must  be  pursued  with  special 
care  as  the  mother  and  nurse  of  the  other  arts  ;  " 
to  be  followed  by  readings  out  of  good  authors,  first 
prose  writers,  "  that  the  boys  in  both  ways,  both  by 
rule  and  example,  might  be  so  guided  to  the  Latin 
tongue  as  to  learn  to  speak  and  write  it  skilfully, 
and  next  poets,  that  they  might  understand  metrics 
and  learn  to  make  verses."     The  school  laws  direct 
that   in   their   exercises,    the    boj^s    "shall  use  no 
phrase  until  they  have  accurately  inquired  in  what 
author  that  phrase  occurs,  and    whether  it  is  suffi- 
ciently elegant  and  suitable  ;  "  also  that  tliey  shall 
never  use  their   mother   tongue.     "  Besides  Latin, 
Greek  grammar  and  the  reading  of  Greek  authors 
was   prescribed  ;  "   "  Dialectics   Trotzendorf  taught 
continually  ;  and,  through   the   speeches  of  Cicero 
and   those   in   Livy,    he   prepared    his   pupils    for 
rhetoric."     Music  and  arithmetic  are  mentioned  as 
studies  in  the  Goldberg  school,  and   "religion,  he 
taught  himself  with  pious  earnestness,"  calling  it 
the  soul  of  his  school  and  the  soul  of  all  instruction. 
Hence  there  is  little  in  the  subjects  taught  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  the  other  good  schools  of  the  time 


DISTINGUISHED    TEAOITERS  103 

ill  Germany.  To  show  the  effect  of  the  instructiou, 
however,  it  is  well  to  note  that  it  was  said  that  in 
Goldberg,  during  Trotzendorf's  time,  even  the  ser- 
vants and  the  maids  spoke  Latin. 

What  specially  characterized  this  school,  however, 
was  Trotzendorfs  scheme  of  government,  a  scheme 
whereby  the  pupils  shared  in  the  management,  and 
were  to  a  large  extent  made  responsible  for  special 
features  of  the  school  life.  His  school  was  in  fact  a 
genuine  republic  in  which  noble  and  simple  were 
alike  amenable  to  laws  administered  largely  by 
themselves.  He  created  various  offices  designated 
by  Greek  or  Latin  names,  all  filled  by  students, 
and  having  each  its  distinctive  duties.  One  set  of 
officers  looked  after  the  house  order,  the  tidiness  of 
clothing,  and  the  times  at  which  pupils  rose  in  the 
morning  and  retired  at  night ;  others  supervised  the 
table  order  and  the  table  manners  of  students  ;  still 
others  were  charged  with  seeing  that  Latin  was 
spoken,  and  that  pupils  studied  diligently.  There 
was  also  a  school  judiciary  to  take  cognizance  of 
offences,  before  which  supposed  culprits  were  tried, 
with  some  days  allowed  for  preparing  a  good  Latin 
defence,  on  the  excellence  of  which  largely  depended 
how  easily  they  were  let  off.  Over  all  this  student 
machinery  of  officers,  stood  Trotzeudorf  as  -'per- 
petual dictator,"  with  functions  partly  executive, 
partly  appellate.  This  scheme  worked  admirably 
in  the  skilful    hands  of  its  originator ;  and  some- 


104  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATIOX 

thing  analogous  to  it,  has  occasionally  been  tried 
since  his  day  with  varying  success.  He  also  used 
tlie  more  advanced  boys  to  teach  the  younger,  a 
kind  of  monitorial  system. 

Michael  Neander,*  born  1525,  was  the  son  of  a 
shop-keeper  who  wished  to  make  of  him  a  merchant, 
but  was  disgusted  at  his  lack  of  skill  in  managing 
a  horse,  and  hence  declared  he  was  fit  for  nothing 
in  the  world  but  to  be  a  monk.  ]\Iany  years  later 
the  old  man  rectified  his  opinion,  when  his  good-for- 
nothing  son  had  become  one  of  the  most  famous 
teachers  in  Germany.  The  boy  was  sent  to  school, 
and  at  seventeen  went  to  tlie  University  of  Wit- 
tenberg, where,  under  Melanchton's  guidance,  his 
studies  took  a  wide  range  which  later  sliowed  itself 
in  his  school.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  became 
assistant  in  a  school  at  Nordhausen,  with  a  wise  old 
rector,  and  he  tells  most  amusingly  liow  his  conceit 
was  taken  down,  and  how  effectually  lie  learned  that 
"  school  work  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  what 
young  fellows  think  it."  Finally  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five  he  was  made  rector  of  a  cloister  school 
at  Ilfeld  am  Harz  where  he  remained  till  his  death 
in  1595,  and  made  of  it  what  Melanchthon  Y>ro- 
nounced  one  of  the  very  best  schools  in  German}'. 

His  career  deserves  mention  here,  not  from  the 
great  size  of  his  school,  which  was  never  very  large, 
but  from  the  things  in  which  his  practice  differed 

*  Originally  Neumann— Freshman  changed  to  its  Greek  equivalent. 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  105 

from  that  of  his  contemporaries.  An  important 
point  in  which  he  diverged  from  other  teachers  was 
in  his  "  sharp  separation  of  the  elementary  from  the 
scientific,  of  the  indispensable  and  wide-reaching 
principles  from  the  less  needful  or  anomalous,"  i.  e., 
of  the  matters  which  really  belong  to  secondary 
instruction  and  which  should  therefore  be  thoroughly 
m.astered,  from  those  which  properly  pertain  to  the 
higher  professional  training.  Hence  resulted,  that 
by  giving  exclusive  attention  to  that  part  of  instruc- 
tion which  properly  belonged  to  him,  "  his  pupils 
when  they  left  him  were  so  well-grounded  in  lan- 
guages and  arts,  as  immediately  to  fill  positions  in 
school  or  church,"  as  was  said  by  one  of  his  con- 
temporaries ;  or  as  one  of  his  pupils  said,  "  Nean- 
der's  boys,  when  they  went  to  the  university,  were 
at  once  ahead  of  most  others."  He  wrote  many 
brief  text-books  of  languages  and  of  several  sciences, 
which  embodied  this  principle,  and  some  of  which 
came  into  wide  use. 

A  second  point  in  which  he  diverged  from  his 
contemporaries,  was  in  the  emphasis  which  he  alone 
gave  to  history,  to  geography,  and  to  physics,  or 
more  properly  natural  history.  For  all  of  these  he 
wrote  manuals  for  instruction,  and  for  the  first  two, 
also  compends.  His  manual  for  geography  is  a  very 
curious  book,  the  names  of  places  being  accompanied 
by  biographical  accounts  of  persons,  and  in  some 
cases  Dy    rambling   autobiographical   details.     An 


100         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ample  accouut  of  Neandcr  and  liis  books  will  be 
found  in  von  Raumer  Vol.  I.  p.  180,  a  good  abstract 
of  which  is  given  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of 
Education,  V.  p.  599. 

Roger  Aschani,  1516-1568 

Roger  Ascham,  whose  life  extended  from  1516  to 
1568,  and  wdio  was  tutor  to  several  distinguished 
persons,  including  Queen  Elizabeth,  deserves  a  brief 
mention  in  this  place,  if  for  no  other  reason,  at  least 
for  this,  that  he  is  much  the  best  known  English 
teacher  of  this  century,  and  that  he  has  embodied 
his  practice  and  his  opinions  in  a  work  entitled 
"  The  Schoolmaster  "  which  has  become  an  English 
classic.  This  book  is  chiefly  occupied  with  a  presen- 
tation of  the  author's  method  of  teaching  Latin, 
with  frequent  charming  digressions  on,  important 
pedagogic  topics,  several  of  which  have  already  been 
cited.  His  method  wdth  Latin  was  by  double  trans- 
lation of  Latin  authors,  accompanied  by  careful 
comparison  of  re-translations  with  originals,  and  by 
frequent  repetition  to  assure  thoroughness.  Like 
Sturm,  he  would  set  as  exercises  for  the  2:)upil  trans- 
lations from  unfamiliar  Latin  works  to  be  translated 
back  into  Latin,  and  then  compared  and  corrected  by 
the  original.  He  would  have  the  teaching  of  gram- 
mar limited  to  the  essentials,  and  would  have  these 
learned  only  by  their  use  ;  for  ho  believed  that  gram- 
mar forms  and  rules  are  "sooner  and  surer  learned 


BISTINGUISHKD   TEACHERS  107 

by  examples  of  good  autliors  than  by  the  naked 
rules  of  grammarians."  Through  recent  re-publica- 
tions, this  interesting  work  is  now  placed  within 
easy  reach  of  all  who  care  for  educational  literature. 

Richiircl  Mulcaster,  1530-1611 

The  name  of  another  worthy  English  schoolmaster 
and  educational  author  of  this  century,  has  recently 
been  rescued  from  the  oblivion  into  which  it  had 
sunk,  partly  through  the  labors  of  the  Early  English 
Text  Society,  but  more  especially  through  the  repub- 
lication by  Mr.  R.  H.  Quick  of  his  most  important 
work.  This  man  was  Richard  Mulcaster,  who  was 
born  of  a  good  but  reduced  English  family  about 
1530.  His  early  education  was  received  at  Eton, 
and  in  1556  he  graduated  at  Oxford  with  high 
repute  for  scholarship,  especially  in  Hebrew.  He 
then  became  a  schoolmaster  in  London,  and  in  1561 
was  made  the  first  head-master  of  Merchant  Taylors' 
school,  at  the  munificent  salary  of  10  £  a  year,  the 
hours  of  school  being  four  in  the  forenoon  and  four 
in  the  afternoon.  During  a  portion  of  his  period  of 
service,  an  officer  of  the  company  of  Merchant  Tay- 
lors' paid  to  Mulcaster  an  additional  10  £  a  year, 
making  his  emoluments  at  the  utmost  the  equiva- 
lent of  not  quite  a  thousand  dollars  a  year  of  our 
present  money,  the  purcliase  power  of  money  at  that 
time  being  ten  or  possibly  twelve  times  as  great  as 
at  present. 


108         THE   HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

In  this  position  he  remained  twenty-six  years, 
during  which,  in  1581,  he  pubhshed  "  Positions",  a 
work  of  great  pedagogic  interest,  and  not  long  after, 
''  The  Elementarie."  Some  disagreements  with  his 
employers  had  marked  his  experience  in  the  school, 
due  probably  to  the  fact  that  he  could  not  forget 
that  he  was  of  gentle  birth,  and  hence  thought 
himself  superior  to  the  tradesmen  who  employed 
him  ;  and  these  disagreements  finally  caused  a  sev- 
erance of  his  relations  with  the  school.  Some  years 
later  he  became  High  Master  of  St.  Paul's  School 
where  he  remained  twelve  years,  holding  for  much 
of  the  time  a  valuable  living  to  which  he  had  been 
presented  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  seems  to  have  had 
a  high  regard  for  the  sturdy  schoolmaster.  The  last 
few  years  of  his  long  life  were  spent  in  his  living, 
where  he  proved  but  an  indifferent  preacher.  He 
died  in  1611. 

At  the  outset  of  the  "  Positions  ",  which  is  the 
work  recently  edited  by  Mr.  Quick,  Mulcaster  mani- 
fests a  rare  good  sense  in  stating  the  principles  by 
which  he  proposes  to  be  guided  in  his  use  of  the 
opinions  of  authors.  He  proposes  to  test  them  by 
right  reason  and  by  their  probable  adaptation  to  the 
uses,  circumstances,  and  modes  of  thinking  of  his 
owm  time  and  country  ;  and  to  adopt  nothing,  who- 
ever may  be  its  author,  save  as  it  has  "nature  to 
lead  it,  reason  to  back  it,  custom  to  commend  it, 
experience  to  allow  it,  and  profit  to  prefer  it." 


DISTINGUISHED   TEACHERS  109 

He  declines  to  fix  any  definite  age  at  which  chil- 
dren shall  begin  their  schooling,  "because  ripeness 
in  children  is  not  tied  to  one  time,  no  more  than  all 
corn  is  ripe  for  one  reaping."  "If,"  he  says,  "the 
child  have  a  weak  body  though  never  so  strong  a 
wit,  let  him  grow  on  the  longer  till  the  strength  of 
his  body  do  answer  to  his  wit."  A  little  later,  he 
emphasizes  the  careful  regard  that  he  thinks  should 
be  had,  not  less  to  the  pupil's  physical  development 
than  to  his  intellectual  progress,  by  devoting  no  less 
than  thirty  chapters  of  his  work  to  physical  education 
considered  solely  from  the  schoolmaster's  point  of 
view.  "  The  soul  and  body,"  he  says,  "  being  co- 
partners in  good  and  ill,  in  sweet  and  sour,  in  mirth 
and  mourning,  and  having  generally  a  common 
sympathy  and  a  mutual  feeling  in  all  passions ; 
how  can  they  be,  or  rather  why  should  they  be 
severed  in  training  ?  the  one  made  "strong  and  well 
qualified,  the  other  left  feeble  and  a  prey  to  infirm- 
ity ?  Will  ye  have  the  mind  to  obtain  those  things 
which  be  most  proper  unto  her  and  most  profitable 
unto  you  when  they  be  obtained  ?  Then  must  ye 
also  -have  a  special  care  that  the  body  be  well 
appointed,  for  fear  it  shrink  while  ye  be  either  in 
course  to  get  them,  or  in  case  to  use  them." 

Nor  would  he  have  this  care,  so  needful  for  physi- 
cal efficiency,  '  left  at  random  to  liberty,  but  brought 
into  form  of  ordinary  discipline  generally  in  all  men, 
because  all  men  need  help  for  necessary  health  and 


110  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ready  execution  of  their  natural  actions,  but  parti- 
cularly those  men  whose  life  is  in  leisure,  whose 
brains  be  rnost  busied  and  their  wits  most  wearied, 
in  which  kind  students  be  no  one  small  part  but  the 
greatest  of  all,  which  so  use  their  minds  as  if  they 
cared  not  for  their  bodies,  and  yet  so  need  their 
bodies  as  without  thie  strength  and  soundness  where- 
of they  be  good  for  nothing  but  to  moan  themselves, 
and  to  make  others  marvel  why  they  take  no  more 
heed  how  to  do  that  long  which  they  do  so  well." 
When  we  consider  that  the  chapters  on  physical 
training  by  gymnastic  exercises  and  games,  to  which 
these  wise  words  are  the  prelude,  were  written  more 
than  three  centuries  ago,  and  how  comparatively 
recent  are  all  efforts  at  proper  bodily  education,  it 
will  easily  be  seen  that  this  old  English  schoolmaster 
was  wise  far  beyond  his  age. 

With  regard  to  intellectual  education  also,  Mulcas- 
ter  has  some  ideas  which  were  far  from  being  common 
in  his  day.  He  would  have  elementary  instruction 
include  reading  and  writing,  drawing  and  singing, 
and  the  ability  to  play  on  some  musical  instrument. 
The  first  two  of  these  he  thinks  should  be  the  com- 
mon right  of  all ;  and,  differing  from  the  custom  of 
his  time,  he  would  have  the  mother-tongue  made 
the  language  in  which  the  child  should  be  first 
taught.  He  testifies  his  regard  for  the  vernacular 
by  writing  his  book  in  it,  that  it  may  be  accessible, 
as  he  says,  as  well  to  the  unlearned  as  to  the  learned  ; 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  111 

for  "  He  that  uudorstaiids  no  Latin  can  understand 
English,  and  he  that  understands  Latin  very  well, 
can  understand  English  far  better  if  he  will  confess 
the  truth."  In  his  Elementarie  published  in  1582, 
he  emphasizes  the  importance  of  a  careful  school 
study  of  English.  Before  proceeding  to  give  seven 
precepts  for  the  correct  writing  of  English  he  says, 
"  For  our  natural  tongue  being  as  beneficial  unto  us 
for  our  own  needful  use  as  any  other  is  to  the  j)eople 
which  use  it,  and  having  as  pretty  and  as  fair 
observations  in  it  as  any  other  hath,  and  being  as 
ready  to  yield  to  any  rule  of  art  as  any  other  is, 
why  should  I  not  take  some  pains  to  find  out  the 
right  writing  of  ours,  as  other  countrymen  have 
done  to  find  the  like  in  theirs  ?  "  Why  not  indeed  ? 
every  well-instructed  educator  of  to-day  is  ready  to 
echo  ;  yet  such  a  question  was  by  no  means  a  com- 
mon one  among  the  learned  men  of  the  sixteenth 
century ;  and  honest  Richard,  in  the  care  that  he 
enjoins  for  the  literary  study  of  English,  was  well- 
nigh  three  centuries  in  advance  of  any  definite  study 
of  the  mother-tongue  in  English  schools. 

While  he  considers  the  ability  to  read  and  write, 
the  common  right  of  all,  he  by  no  means  favors  the 
idea  of  Erasmus  of  giving  a  high  education  to  as 
large  a  number  as  possible  ;  for  he  fears  that  a  large 
class  of  learned  men  without  intellectual  employ- 
ment may  be  uneasy  and  seditious,  a  fear  that  is 
coming  to  be  expressed    in    more   than    one   high 


112  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

quarter  to-day.  Yet  he  thinks  that  endowments  for 
the  encouragement  of  higher  learning,  should  go 
chiefly  to  poor  boys  who  manifest  marked  ability, 
whilst  they  should  be  open  on  equal  terms  to  the  rich 
who  will  study,  that  such  benefactions  may  not  be 
degraded  in  general  estimation  to  a  badge  of  charity. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  in  '^  Posi- 
tions", is  the  plea  for  a  careful  training  of  teachers 
in  a  special  college  parallel  with  the  schools  for 
other  learned  professions.  "  Is  the  framing  of  young 
minds,"  he  says,  "  and  the  training  of  their  bodies  so 
mean  a  point  of  cunning  ?  be  schoolmasters  in  this 
realm  such  a  paucity,  as  they  are  not  even  in  good 
sadness  to  be  soundly  thought  on  ?  "  He  concludes 
therefore  "  that  this  trade  requireth  a  particular  col- 
lege for  these  four  causes  :  first  for  the  subject,  being 
the  mean  to  make  or  mar  the  whole  fry  of  our  state  ; 
secondly  for  the  number,  whether  of  them  that  are 
to  learn,  or  of  them  that  are  to  teach  ;  thirdly  for 
the  necessity  of  the  profession  which  may  not  be 
spared  ;  fourthly  for  the  matter  of  their  study  which 
is  comparable  to  the  greatest  professions,  for  lan- 
guage, for  judgment,  for  skill  how  to  train,  etc."  It 
needs  hardly  be  said  that  in  this,  as  in  many  re- 
spects, Mulcaster  was  far  in  advance  of  his  age. 

Mulcaster  likewise  makes  an  earnest  plea  for  the 
right  education  of  girls,  basing  it  on  these  four 
grounds :  (1)  "  the  custom  of  the  country  which 
alloweth  them    to  learn,"  (2)  "  the  duty  which  we 


DISTINGUISHED   TEACHERS  113 

owe  unto  them  whereby  we  are  charged  in  conscience 
not  to  leave  them  lame  in  that  which  is  for  them," 
(3)  "their  own  towardness  which  God  by  nature 
would  never  have  given  them  to  remain  idle  or 
to  small  purpose,"  and  (4)  "  the  excellent  effects 
in  that  sex  when  they  have  had  the  help  of  good 
bringing  up."  What  he  thinks  this  correct  female 
education  should  include  would  be,  "  reading  well, 
writing  fair,  singing  sweet,  and  playing  fine,"  to 
which  he  seems  inclined  to  add  drawing  and  the 
ability  "to  understand  and  speak  the  learned  lan- 
guages and  those  tongues  also  which  the  time  most 
cmbraceth,  with  some  logical  help  to  chop,  and  some 
rhetoric  to  brave,"  i.  e.  adorn.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  add  that  in  his  scheme  of  female  education, 
Mulcaster  was  far  in  advance  of  the  age  in  which 
he  lived.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  his  chief 
work  which  is  now  placed  in  easy  reach  of  educa- 
tors may  be  widely  read. 

The  Jesuit  Schools 

The  famous  schools  of  the  Jesuits  which  began  in 
the  middle  of  this  century,  and  spread  rapidly  until 
they  covered  all  western  Europe,  deserve  a  more 
extended  notice  than  is  consistent  with  our  plan. 
Their  organization  in  five  classes  the  last  of  which 
was  of  two  years,  was  probably  suggested  by  that  of 
Sturm,  though  the  age  of  admission  to  their  schools 
was  fourteen.  The  exclusively  literary  character  of 
their  studies,  pursued  for  style  in  selections   from 


114 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


classic  authors,  was  similar  to  that  of  other  good 
schools  of  the  16th  century.  But  the  remarkable 
ability  of  Ignatius,  their  founder,  of  Xavier  and  oth- 


IGNATIUS  DE  LOYOLA,  1491-1556  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER,  1506-1552 

ers  of  his  close  associates,  and  of  Aquaviva,  author 

of  the  Batio  Studiorum,  their 

course  of  study,  gave  these 

schools  an  impetus  that  has 

made  them  a  power  in  the 

world's  history. 

In  most  great  schools  re- 
ligion was  inculcated,  and 
of  a  type  which  was  ac- 
ceptable to  the  ruling  pow- 
ers. This  the  Jesuits  like- 
wise did,  theirs  being  of  the  Romish  type.  Their 
success  in  this  propaganda  was  due  to  the  admirable 
skill  they  showed  in  gaining  influence  over  their 
pupils,  a  skill  not  always  displayed  by  those  who 
opposed  them.  The  care  which  they  exercised  to 
preserve  the  health  of  their  j^upils,  and  the  attention 
that  they  gave  to  the  cultivation  of  good  and  even 
elegant  manners,  were  wholly  admirable. 


CLAUDIUS  AQUAVIVA. 
1543-1615 


DISTINGUISHED    TEACHERS  115 

Their  methods  were  skilfully  adapted  to  the  end 
which  they  proposed.  They  were  uniform  in  char- 
acter, kind  and  agreeable  in  tone,  and  adapted  to 
win  the  love  of  the  pupils.  The  work  which  they 
set  and  which  was  rigidly  exacted,  was  carefully 
graded  to  the  capacity  of  pupils,  never  excessive, 
and  never  too  difficult.  Difficulties  of  grammar  were 
taught  only  when  they  occurred  in  the  due  course 
of  reading.  Daily  and  weekly  repetitious  were  re- 
quired to  assure  mastery.  The  oral  and  written 
examinations  which  were  given  yearly,  were  care- 
fully prepared  for  as  to  manner  and  form.  The 
teaching  which  was  mostly  oral,  was  given  methodi- 
cally with  frequent  questions  by  the  teacher,  and 
with  written  notes,  exercises,  themes,  and  verses  on 
the  part  of  the  pupils. 

The  teachers,  who  were  mostly  novices  of  the 
order,  with  a  much  smaller  number  of  the  fully 
professed  brothers,  received  a  careful  previous  prepar- 
ation for  their  important  duties,  in  which  they  were 
usually  engaged  for  from  four  to  six  years.  A  care- 
ful previous  preparation  of  their  lessons,  according 
to  a  prescribed  form  was  also  rigidly  exacted  ;  and 
their  work  was  thoroughly  supervised,  at  least  once 
in  two  weeks,  by  the  Prefect  of  studies. 

The  princi})le  of  Emulation,  a  motive  so  active 
among  boys,  was  appealed  to  by  the  Jesuits  in  all 
possible  ways.  Places  in  class,  badges  for  excellence, 
prizes  for  superiority,  were   freely   and    effectively 


116  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

used.  The  boys  were  arranged  in  pairs  called  rivals, 
to  catch  each  other  in  any  errors  that  might  occur, 
or  in  opposing  bands  to  challenge  each  other  to 
scholarly  combats  by  questions.  Many  teachers  at 
present  do  not  like  the  method,  but  it  must  be  owned 
,  that  it  was  used  thoroughly  and  skilfully. 

The  schools  of  the  Jesuits  became  so  famous  for 
the  thoroughness  and  effectiveness  of  the  work  which 
they  did,  and  for  the  mildness  of  their  methods  in 
an  age  when  school  discipline  was  of  the  heroic 
type,  that  they  grew  to  be  very  largely  frequented, 
it  is  said,  even  by  Protestants. 

If  the  educational  aim  of  the  Jesuits  seems  to  us 
narrow,  it  must  in  common  fairness  be  confessed 
that  it  was  well-nigh  indistinguishable  save  in 
form  of  statement  from  that  of  Sturm.  They  as 
well  as  Sturm  aimed  at  eloquence,  and  consid- 
ered it  synonymous  with  a  facile  and  correct 
mastery  of  the  Latin  tongue.  Like  Sturm  they 
emphasized  piety,  each  side  having  its  own  defini- 
tion of  what  was  pious.  The  Jesuits  also  agreed 
with  Sturm,  and  indeed  with  the  current  idea  of  the 
16th  century,  in  considering  the  wisdom  of  past  ages 
as  a  kind  of  closed  circle  enclosing  all  that  man 
needed  to  know,  and  hence  strove  only  for  the  power 
of  acquisition.  Whatever  difference  there  was  lies 
in  the  fact  that  while  the  successors  of  Sturm  slowly 
outgrew  their  narrowness  of  view,  the  Jesuits  have 
shown  little  disposition  to  modify  their  educational 


DISTINGLTISIIED    TEACHERS  117 

Opinions,  though  by  the  admission  of  new  studies, 
they  have  adapted  their  curriculum  to  the  intellect- 
ual demands  of  the  age. 

It  is  but  just  for  us  to  remember  that,  whatever 
vices  their  system  may  later  have  made  manifest, 
and  which  in  the  18th  century  led  to  their  tempor- 
ary suppression  in  some  European  states,  they  were 
nevertheless  skilful  schoolmasters,  and  showed  great 
practical  sagacity  ;  that  they  gave  admirable  care  to 
physical  education  and  to  training  in  good  manners  ; 
and  that  they  were  pioneers  in  the  important  mat- 
ters of  carefully  training  their  teachers  for  their  duties, 
and  of  a  systematic  supervision  of  their  work  while 
in  progress.  The  motive  to  which  they  so  largely 
and  skilfully  appealed  for  securing  good  scholar- 
ship, although  now  reprehended  in  many  influen- 
tial quarters,  is  still  far  from  extinct,  as  is  testified 
by  our  prize  systems,  our  marking  systems,  and  our 
practice  of  assigning  relative  rank  in  classes. 

More  detailed  information  about  the  Jesuit  schools 
may  be  found  in  Barnard's  American  Journal  of 
Education  Vol's.  V.,  VI.  and  XXVII.,  derived  chiefly 
from  the  partisan  account  of  von  Raumer.  A  fairer 
view  of  these  remarkable  schools  is  presented  by  Mr, 
Quick  in  his  ''  Educational  Reformers  ;  "  whilst  the 
Rev.  Thos.  Hughes  in  his  "  Loyola,"  a  work  pub- 
lished in  the  Great  Educators  series,  presents  the 
educational  system  of  the  Jesuits  from  their  own 
standpoint. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  OP  EDUCATION  IN  THE  SEVEN- 
TEENTH   CENTURY 

During  the  17th  century  we  are  not  to  look  for 
any  material  change  in  the  subject-matter  of  educa- 
tion. The  struggle  of  the  preceding  age  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  secured,  in  the  schools  and  universities, 
a  reasonable  degree  of  conformity  to  the  best  means 
of  culture  then  available.  The  ancient  classical 
literature,  with  the  correlated  grammar  and  rhetoric, 
and  with  logic  in  an  improved  form  applied  to  the 
study  of  the  ancient  orators  and  philosophers,  had 
gained  firm  foothold  in  the  schools.  Mathematical 
studies,  confined  mostly  to  the  universities,  were 
more  largely  used  in  this  century  than  in  the  pre- 
ceding one,  though  arithmetic  and  algebra  had  not 
yet  by  any  means  attained  their  complete  form, 
Vieta  had  but  recently  taken  the  decisive  step  of 
using  letters  as  representatives  of  known  quantities  ; 
and  Descartes,  during  this  age,  introduced  the  use  of 
exponents,  explained  negative  roots,  and  showed  the 
number  of  positive  and  negative  roots  in  equations, 
besides  enlarging  geometry  by  devising  analytics  : 
moreover,  Newton  and  Leibnitz  invented  the  cal- 
culus only  in  the  latter  half  of  the   17th  century. 

(118) 


SOMK    CHARACTERISTICS  llJ) 

Hence,  aside  from  the  Euclidean  geometry,  and  the 
elements  of  arithmetic,  it  may  be  seen  that  the 
mathematics  were  hardly  in  a  condition  to  admit  of 
profitable  study. 

History  and  the  sciences  of  nature,  though,  as  we 
have  seen,  tlieir  study  was  suggested  by  some  of  the 
preceding  theorists,  were,  and  during  this  age  re- 
mained, in  a  state  which  made  them  proper  subjects 
for  professorial  research,  rather  than  for  the  study 
of  young  men.  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  during  this  cen- 
tury, showed  how  this  research  should  be  conducted 
in  the  sciences  ;  but  not  until  the  following  century 
did  Rollin  attempt  a  work  of  this  kind  for  history. 
Hence  we  should  feel  no  surprise  that  the  chief 
subjects  of  study  during  the  17th  century  were  lan- 
guages and  their  immediate  accessories  ;  nor  are  we 
warranted  in  concluding  on  this  account  that  there 
was  any  marked  lack  of  conformity  to  the  existing 
means  of  culture. 

The  aim  of  education  in  this,  as  in  the  preceeds- 
ing   century,  in    both    universities    and    second aiiv 
schools.  vvnqAvhony  a  practical  one,  utilitarian  rather   ^ 
J;han  disciplinary  in  its  puryjose,  viz.,  the  attainment    _ 
of  eloquence  in  the  Latin  tongue  ;  and  the  imitation 
of  the  ancient  authors  was  _considered  the  essei 
means  lor  attniniug  this  end.     To  gain  "verba  et 
res,"  words  and  matter,  was  hence  the  care  of  teach- 
ers for  their  pupils.     Authors  were  read,  nominally 
at  least,  for  both  words  and  matter,  though  it  is  to 


120         THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

be  presumed  that  the  words  gained  the  lion's  share 
of  attention. 

Why  this  purpose  of  instruction  should  at  that 
time  prevail,  grew  out  of  two  facts,  as  Paulsen  has 
shown  for  Germany,  and  these  facts  were  equally 
true  for  the  rest  of  the  learned  world.  1st.  Since 
medicine  was  then  held  in  low  esteem,  and  teaching 
was  far  from  having  become  an  independent  voca- 
tion, there  were  then  but  two  learned  careers  open 
to  young  men,  the  church  and  the  service  of  the 
state,  i.  e.,  theology  and  jurisprudence,  to  both  of 
which  skill  in  the  use  of  language  was  essential.  2d. 
The  learned  world  was  possessed  by  an  idea  similar 
to  that  which  was  held  by  the  mediaeval  Byzantines, 
that  the  ancient  Greeks  had  exhausted  all  the  pos- 
sibilities of  science  ;  and  that  consequently  the  work 
of  learned  education  was  to  recover  what  the  ancients 
knew,  and  to  use  it  dextrously  in  the  tongue  so  long 

consecrated  to  learned  use.     Hence  the  methoiis-^ 

all  learned  schools,  dictated  by  this  fact  and  this 

ii  —       -■     I -« : : r" 

idea,  were  directed  to  the  mastery  of  Latm^ 


spoken  and  written,  for  eloquence  and  matter,  and 
to  knowledge  of  the  Greek  authors  for  ideas  and 
graces^ 

The  crown  of  all  learning  in  this  age  was  poetry^. 
1.  e.,  the^art  of  niaking  Latin  verses,  to  some  pro- 
ficiency in  which  it  was  thought  that  all  might 
attain  by  due  painstaking.  To  aid  in  this,  collec- 
tions were  made,  either  by  the  students  themselves 


SOME    f'TrAKArTEPtTSTICS  121 

or  by  others,  of  nice  words,  pretty  phrases,  and  fine 
sentences.  Dramas  were  represented  to  make  the 
use  of  Latin  more  faniihar ;  and  Latin  exercises 
were  composed  for  all  kinds  of  public  occasions,  real 
or  imaginary,  to  make  obvious  the  use  to  which  the 
acquisitions  of  pupils  might  be  put.  In  all  this, 
the  practical  and  utilitarian  purpose  is  sufficiently 
apparent. 

The  men  of  those  times  were,  however,  under  no 
delusion  as  to  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking  which 
they  proposed  to  students.  They  saw  that  it  post- 
poned to  a  late  period  of  youth  the  attainment  of 
the  wisdom  which  they  craved,  through  the  necessij 
of  mastering  its  medium  in  two  dead  languages. 
They  recognized  this  necessity  as  a  fearful  grind,  and 
they  freely  expressed  their  envy  of  the  Greeks  who 
learned  no  language  but  their  own.  It  would  seem 
strange  that  this  did  not  turn  their  attention  to  the 
propriety  of  improving  and  using  their  own  vernac- 
ular languages,  did  wo  not  take  into  account  the 
idea  with  which  they  were  possessed  that  everything 
worth  knowing  was  embodied  in  the  Greek  and 
Latin  tongues,  that  science  was  in  truth  a  circuit 
already  closed. 

Much  influence  must  also  doubtless  be  attributed 
to  the  force  of  ancient  usage,  and  to  the  natural  pride 
of  a  learned  guild.  The  idea  of  spending  time  and 
effort  on  these  languages  as  a  fine  mental  gymnastic 
had  evidently  not  occurred  to  this  age.     This  idea 


122  THE    HISTORY     OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

was  reserved  to  a  much  later  period,  wlieu  tlip  t^np  _ 
hninanitariau  spirit  which   considers  man   himself 
as  more  important  than  any  of  his  uses,  liad_a^iipted' 

humanistic  studies  as  a  fit  instrument  for  its  pur- 

2pses. 

With  these  remarks,  which  seem  to  me  to  be 
warranted  by  the  facts  of  the  case  as  regards  the 
means  of  education  which  continued  to  be  used,  let 
us  proceed  to  observe  what  were  the  chief  distin- 
guishing features  in  the  pedagogy  of  the^  17th 
century. 

These  were,  I  think,  the  following,  which  we  will 
proceed  to  examine  in  the  order  in  which  they  are 
here  given.  1.  The  marked  ecclesiastical  ohav^ctej:. — 
and  tonep;iven  to  education  :  2.  the  influence  which 
begins  to  be  observed  in  education  of  philosophers 
like  Bacon,  Descartes,  and  Fleury ;  3.  the  practical 
efforts  of  noted  pedagogues  and  theorists  to  reform 
the  methods,  the  spirit,  and  to  some  extent,  the  sub- 
jects of  education,  in  which  category  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  include  Ratich,  Comenius,  the  Port 
Royalists,  Milton,  and  Locke ;  4.  the  efforts  that 
were  made  to  promote  the  education  of  girls  by  Port 
Royal,  by  Fenelon,  and  by  Mme.  de  Maintenon  ;  5. 
the  rise  in  France  of  the  great  teaching  coiigi 
tion.  the  Orntory  of  Jesus,  as  tl  nvul  ofthe  Jesuits ; 
and  6.  the  beginnings  of  education  in  Anierica. 

I.  The  influence  of  ecclesiasticism  in  e^iici|t,ion 
was  in  the   17th  century  hardly  less  than  in  thc^^ 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  123 

that  preceded  it.  The  ancient  church  had  certainly 
not  changed  its  position  of  tlie  absohite  authority 
of  the  churcli  in  all  that  concerns  the  education  of 
youth,  and  had  with  great  sagacity  met  the  demands 
for  a  better  and  more  wide-spread  instruction,  by  the 
establishment  of  the  order  of  Jesuits,  one  of  whose 
chief  functions  was  to  teach,  whose  teachers  were  all 
clerics  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  papal  see, 
and  whose  schools  during  this  century  spread  rapidly 
over  Europe,  bearing  wherever  they  went  the  dom- 
inance of  an  ecclesiastical  influence.  The  Port 
Royalists  and  the  Oratorians  to  be  considered  later, 
were  other  Catholic  teaching  bodies,  of  different  and 
even  antagonistic  type,  but  equally  controlled  by 
ecclesiastics. 

Amongst  the  adherents  to  the  Reformation,  the 
influence  of  the  clerical  element  in  the  schools  was 
hardly  less  marked.  The  most  prominent  teachers 
were  clergymen,  nominally  if  not  really  :  the  ai 
vision  of  schools  was  in  the  hands  of  tho  pjprov 
creeds  and  confessions,  catechisms  and  church  dog- 
mas, had  a  prominent  place  in  instruction  :  and  the 
purpose  that  was  declared  in  the  foundation  of 
schools  was  usually  tlie  promotion  of  church  inter- 
ests, under  whatever  form  of  words  it  was  veiled. 
Thus  the  early  German  school  ordinances — for  ex- 
ample that  of  the  Palatinate — which  became  models 
for  this  century  and  the  next,  })remising  that  tht 
schools  exist  "  not  only  to  instruct  the  youth  in  all 


124 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 


kinds  of  good  arts^  rlisp-ip1i]-|«^myl  wisrlo^n  "  but  that 
"they  may  ]>rovif1'^  Yi^hnlpgm-pif^  and  pious  ti'^ps  for 
the  church    and   tlie    common    fatherland,"  ordain 


that  "  by  each  and  every  jjupil  of  tlie  scliools,  the 
fear  of  God  shall  first  of  all  be  had  in  observance, 
and  in  accordance  with  the  same  shall  they  live  in 

all  their  industry  and  conversation To  this  end 

shall  all  and  every  pupil  be  bound  to  no  other  than 
our  princely  (Kurfiirstlichen)  reformed  catechism 
used  in  the  city  of  Heidelberg,"  in  which  it  is 
directed  that  every  class  be  "  most  industriously 
taught  memoriter."  ^^he  rod  is  prescribed  for  those 
who  go  to  sleep  during  morning  and  evenmg  j^ray-^ 
ers  or  who  absent  themselves  therefrom,  as  well  as 
for  those  who  ctl 


In  the 


words  of  K.  Schmidt :  *  "They  can  look  uj 
school  onh^  as  a  de])endent  of  the  ecclesiastical  class, 
as  a  daughter  of  tlie  cliurch  ;  and  are  not  yotjj 
to  distinguish  school  and_j^hurch  as  two  independ- 
ent  moral  organisms,  having  each  its  own  spliere 
and  livin^o;  it^  own  bf('."  It  may  be  remarked  that 
the  emancipation  of  the  schools  from  ecclesiastical 
dominance    made    little    progress    until    thfi.   19th 


Unfortunately  the  tendency  of  the  ecclesiastical 
spirit  in  this,  as  in  other  ages,  under  whatever  name 
it  was  known,  was  to  put  upon  its  dogmas  and  con- 
fessions the  stamp  of  authority,  and  then  so  to  extend 


*  Geschichte  der  Padagogik.    Vol.  HI.,  p.  130. 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS 


125 


the  domaius  of  autliority  as  to  encroach  more  and 
more  upon  the  legitimate  reahns  of  human  specula- 
tion and  investigation,  tlius  forging  new  fetters  foii. 
thought  and  striving  \o  limit  its  freedom  in  ex^ 
]>loring  the  still-undiscOvercd  regions  of  mind  and 
matter,  ft  wn^tlie  ever-recurrinty  iear  lest  Ui^w--efe^ 
povovios  which  clasl^uwith  roC^ived  opinions  and 
demand  their  modification,  may  in  some  way  mid  er- 
mine the  verv  foundations  of  eternal  truth, — a  fear 
which,  proved  groundless  in  one  age,  is  sure  to  recur 
in  a  new  form  in  succeeding  ages. 

II.  To  this  hampering  tendency  of  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal spirit,  which  was  strong  in  educational  institu- 
tions, and  which  threatened  to  neutralize  the  resulta. 
of  the  Pl^manitarian  revolutio*n,  a  wholesome  cor- 


rective was'  presented  by  the  rising  influence  of  the 
great  17th  century  philosophers,  Sir  Francis  Ba^ 
and  Descartes,  and  to  a  less  degree,  of  men  like 
Fleury.  Prof.,  Compayre  in  his  *'  Critical  History 
of  the  Doctrines  of  Education  in  France,"  forcibly 
remarks  in  substance  that  every  weightv  philosophic 
s^>:^tem  has  in  it  the  germs  of  a  special  influence 
upon  ]U'(lagogv.  and  hence  is  of  the  o-p^'itr^'='t.  intnroc;f. 
in  the  history  of  _e(Tucation.  Nowhere  is  this  more, 
t|Ue  than  of  the  systems  of  Bacon  and  Descartes, 
though  neither  philosopher  had  education  immedi- 
ately in  view. 

^  Bacon,  Jit61-1626,  bv  recalliup-  tlie  minds  i^f  men_ 
from  barren  ■Scholastic  speculations,  and  froni  oxcl 


126 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 


BACON,  1561-1626 


sive  humanistic  stud  v.  to  the  relief  of  man's  estate 

througli  tlic  investigatioiu 

of  nature  by  exact  obsfjuya- 

tiou  and    ri^orqus  ex  peri-  , 

mout  loadiup;  to  Jnduction 

oj^  her  laws, — nc^  jm^^HlT^ 

S  p  i  r  e  d      t) '  ^      r<^fr.|^|-n  n  Inr-y 

etforti;;  of  Comenius,  the 


greatest  schoolman  of  anx^ 
age  ;  but  enlarged  the  re- 
sources of  pedagogy  by  a 
whole  new  realm  of  profitable  study,  and  by  a  methods 
which  has  proyed  itself  powerful  in  instrnction  a.s 
well  as  in  inyestigation.  Both  the  subject  and  the 
inethod  had  indeed  been  yaguely  discerned  as  im- 
portant and  suggested  as  desirable,  in  the  16th  cen- 
tury by  men  like  Rabelais  and  Viyes  :  it  was  left  to 
Bacon  to  show  how  only,  the  knowledge  of  the  one 
might  be  brought  to  the  requisite  degree  of  certainty, 
and  the  use  of  the  other  could  lead  to  reliable 
results.  Our  own  age  is  a  witness  to  the  great  gain 
that  has  thus  accrued  to  pedagogy.  The  century  in 
which  he  died  witnessed  the  rise  of  that  brilliant 
galaxy  of  English  scientists  and  thinkers  of  which 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  Jeremy  Taylor  are  the  bright- 
est stars,  who  built  on  the  foundations  which  he  had 
laid. 

Had  Descartes,  1596-1650,  contributed  to  educa- 
tion nothing  more  than  the  fundamental  maxim  of 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  127 

his  method,  he  would  have  deserved  long  remem- 
brance in  its  history.  This  maxim,  which  was  as 
far-reaching  in  the  domain  of  sj)eculation  as  was 
Bacon's  method  in  the  realm  of  nature,  is  this, 
"  never  to  receive  for  true  anything  that  is  not 
known  to  be  such  upon  reliable  evidence  :  and  to 
comprise  no  more  in  our  judgments  than  what  is  so 
clearly  presented  to  our  minds  that  we  have  no 
occasion  to  call  it  in  question."  The  first  part  of 
this  maxim  deals  a  death-blow  at  the  claims  of 
unsupported  authority  which  too  often  contravene 
sound  human  reason,  and  asserts  for  the  human 
mind  its  supreme  right  to  think  undisturbed  by 
aught  save  the  demands  of  thought  itself :  the  last 
part  formulates  the  proper  law  of  thought,  that  it 
may  avoid  tlie  danger  of  vague  and  unwarranted 
generalizations,  and  reach  results  worthy  of  respect. 
In  the  application  of  his  maxim,  he  demands  that 
the  subject  of  thought  be  exactly  analyzed,  that  this 
analysis  be  carried  as  far  as  possible  before  any  con- 
clusion is  drawn,  and  that  then,  from  the  parts  thus 
clearly  revealed,  a  definite  whole  of  thought  shall 
be  formed  by  a  right  use  of  judgment,  a  procedure 
which  is  as  valuable  in  pedagogy  as  in  philosophy. 
The  affirmation  which  Descartes  makes  of  the 
natural  ecpiality  in  human  beings  of  latent  power, 
or  prepotency,  to  distinguish  clearly  and  to  reason 
justly,  which,  however,  needs  education  that  a  good 
use  may  bo  made  of  it,  would  have  as  its  natural 


128  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

corollary  the  doctrine  that  humau  inequality  is  due 
entirely  to  the  kind  of  education  that  is  received, 
and  that  hence  the  best  instruction  is  the  right  of 
all,  and  not  merely  the  privilege  of  a  few.  Probably 
few  educators  of  the  present  day,  however  they 
might  be  willing  to  accept  the  deduction  from  Des- 
cartes' idea,  would  be  willing  to  concede  the  native 
equal  prepotency  of  minds,  or  to  claim  for  education 
an  omnijwtent  power  in  making  men.  Nor  would 
many  agree  with  his  opinion,  quoted  by  Sir  William 
Hamilton  in  a  slashing  attack  on  mathematics  as  a 
means  of  mental  discipline,  that  the  mathematics 
are  i:>ositively  j^ernicious  as  discipline,  since  the}'- 
disaccustom  men  to  use  reason  in  the  mode  which 
the  conduct  of  life  demands.*  Doubtless  Descartes 
had  earned  the  right  to  express  a  weighty  opinion 
on  such  a  point,  b}^  his  eminent  services  in  promot- 
ing mathematical  science  ;  yet  we  may  be  permitted 
to  think  that  the  speculative  jjhilosopher  had  incau- 
tiously pushed  too  far  an  objection  which  would  be 
valid  only  when  urged  against  a  too  exclusive  pre- 
occupation with  mathematical  studies. 

Finally  Descartes  like  Bacon,  insisted  on  the  need 
of  making  ample  provision  of  facts  and  real  knowl- 
edge before  striving  to  formulate  opinions  or  to 
construct  theories.  In  this  regard,  Bacon  says  in 
substance,  that  if  one  who  has  not  duly  informed 
himself,  undertakes  despite  his  ignorance  to  shape 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  Jan.,  1830. 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  129 

reasonings  and  to  write  elegant  phrases,  it  is  "as  if 
he  M'islied  to  weigh  and  measure  or  adorn  the  wind." 
Tliere  is,  however,  a  marked  difference  in  that  for 
which  the  two  philosophers  chiefly  value  facts  ;  for 
wliile  Bacon  regards  them  as  materials  by  wliose 
rig] it  use,  we  may  attain  wide-reaching  general  prin- 
ciples, Descartes  looks  upon  them  rather  as  means 
for  strengthening  the  mind  by  the  active  exertion 
of  its  powers  in  their  acquisition,  that  when  thus 
strengthened  it  may  become  capable  of  discovering 
truth,,  a  distinct  approach,  it  may  be  observed,  to  a 
disciplinary  view  of  studies. 

It  resulted  from  their  different  estimate  of  the  use 
of  facts,  that  Bacon  has  become  the  father  of  modern 
science,  which  by  the  use  of  his  method  is  gaining 
an  ever-increasing  power  to  use  the  forces  of  the 
universe  for  the  amelioration  of  man's  condition ; 
whilst  Descartes,  illustrious  as  a  speculative  philoso- 
pher and  still  more  illustrious  as  a  mathematician, 
did  little  of  permanent  worth  when  he  applied  himself 
to  the  study  of  nature.  The  influence  on  pedagogy 
of  their  principles  and  methods  has  been  very 
weighty,  and  in  that  point  of  view  alone,  are  we 
concerned  here  to  regard  tliem. 

The  Abbe  Fleury,  1 040-1723,  whoso  fame  as  an 
impartial  church  historian  has  quite  eclipsed  his 
re})utation  as  a  philoso})her,  is  yet  regarded  by  his 
countryman.  Prof.  Compayre,  as  worthy  of  treat- 
ment in  the  latter  respect ;  and  from  his  interesting 


130  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

analysis  of  Fleury's  treatise  on  the  "  Choice  and 
Methods  of  Studies,''  I  give  here  in  condensed  form 
what  seem  to  me  his  most  important  educational 
opinions.  His  pedagogic  experience,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, had  been  gained  as  tutor  to  some  of  the 
French  princes.  Hence  he  disclaims  any  purpose 
to  express  any  views  on  public  education,  which  he 
says  he  had  not  examined  sufficiently  to  warrant 
him  in  doing.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  good 
abbe  is  rather  a  pedagogic  theorist  than  a  philoso- 
pher in  his  ideas.  We  may  easily  omit  his  censures 
of  the  scholastics  and  the  pedants,  whom  the  previous 
age  had  sufficiently  and  effectively  belabored.  What 
is  most  interesting  in  his  opinions,  is  the  aim  that  he 
proposes  for  education,  and  the  classification  of  studies 
that  he  makes. 

1.  Expressing  a  profound  dissatisfaction  with  the 
education  current  in  his  time  (1686),  and  consider- 
ing it  solely  on  its  intellectual  side,  he  makes  its 
aim  a  two-fold  one,  first  to  make  honest  men,  and 
then  to  make  skilful  ones.  In  other  words  intel- 
lectual culture  should  be  so  pursued  as  to  attain 
completeness  of  manhood,  while  serving  as  "  an 
apprenticeship)  for  life," — an  aim  considerably  more 
elevated  than  was  usual  in  that  age,  though  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  he  considered  it  in  its  fullest 
sense  as  I  have  expressed  it.  He  recognizes  inatten- 
tion as  the  most  formidable  obstacle  to  the  attain- 
ment of  his  aim,  and  of  this  he  had  had  a  striking 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  131 

example  in  one  of  the  princely  pupils  he  had  known, 
who  was,  says  Compayre,  "  inattention  personified." 
He  traces  the  cause  of  this  inattention  to  the  fact 
tliat  abstract  truths  and  general  formulas  are  pre- 
sented to  the  child  at  an  age  when  he  can  under- 
stand only  the  concrete  and  individual ;  and  he 
projjoses  the  true  remedy  for  this,  by  presenting  to 
the  pupil,  wherever  possible,  sensible  objects,  pic- 
tures and  diagrams,  and  by  striving  in  all  ways  to 
make  instruction  attractive.  We  shall  see  later  the 
ingenious  expedients  resorted  to  by  Fenelon,  the 
contemporary  of  Fleury,  to  render  instruction  both 
intelligible  and  attractive. 

2.  In  his  classification  of  the  subjects  of  instruc- 
tion, he  makes  two  great  divisions,  one  of  which 
includes  the  knowledge  that  is  needful  for  all,  and 
the  other  the  studies  which  belong  only  to  the 
privileged  class.  Every  one,  he  thinks,  should  have 
Jiis  part  of  instruction,  but  "  the  poor  have  no  need 
to  know  how  to  read  and  write."  The  knowledge 
needful  for  all,  in  his  view,  is  hygiene,  morals, 
and  logic;  by  which  he  means  the  ability  to  pre- 
serve bodily  health,  to  recognize  and  practise  one's 
duties,  and  to  reason  correctly  on  what  may  meet 
one  in  daily  life.  In  regard  to  the  last,  great 
emphasis  is  laid  on  clear  and  distinct  ideas,  and  on 
a  riglit  understanding  of  tlie  language  that  is  used. 
All  this  Fleury  seems  to  think  the  poor  can  gain  so 
as  to   be  honest  and   capable  in   their  stations,  by 


132  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

examples  and  practice,  without  literary  knowledge, 
without  preparatory  discipline,  and  with  only  the 
vaguest  suggestion  of  any  definite  teachers.  Such 
a  scheme  would  be  obviously  impracticable  when 
applied  to  the  masses  of  mankind,  although,  doubt- 
less, life  furnishes  us  a  few  remarkable  exceptions  ; 
and,  were  skilled  teachers  supplied,  they  would  soon 
find  that  the  quickest  way  to  reach  the  purpose  of 
elementary  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  educa- 
tion would  include  a  fair  share  of  the  literary  culture 
which  Fleury  designedly  omits. 

The  studies  which  belong  only  to  the  richer  classes 
are  separated  into  three  great  groups,  viz.,  necessary 
studies,  useful  studies,  and  studies  which  are  mere 
objects  of  enlightened  curiosity, — a  classification 
which  can  hardly  fail  to  suggest  Herbert  Spencer's 
more  elaborate  scheme.  What  Fleury  deems  neces- 
sary studies  are  grumrri'dr, — by  which  I  judge  that 
he  means  the  mastery  of  the  vernacular,  on  which 
he  lays  great  emphasis, — arithmetic,  economy,  or  a 
knowledge  of  things  needful  for  life  and  how  to 
procure  and  use  them,  and  curiously  enough,  law, 
a  first  suggestion  of  that  civic  instruction,  on  which 
just  now  so  much  emphasis  is  beginning  to  be  laid. 
Useful  but  not  strictly  necessary  studies,  are  history, 
logic,  geometry,  physics  in  which  are  included  an- 
atomy and  cosmography,  and  languages  like  Latin 
which  are  to  be  used  as  means.  As  merely  Carious 
studies,  Fleury  counts  Greek,  the  modern  languages, 


SOME    CHARACTEIIISTICS  133 

the  ancient  poets,  mathematics  save  the  elements  of 
arithmetic  and  geometry,  astronomy,  the  fine  arts 
and  designing. 

In  regard  to  the  useful  studies,  he  considers  Latin 
useful  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  means  of  gaining  what 
knowledge  is  embodied  in  it,  and  as  a  medium  of 
communication  with  learned  foreigners.  He  ascribes 
to  it  no  disciplinary  value,  and  contrary  to  the])rac- 
tice  of  his  ago,  he  would  have  in  its  study  but  a 
small  amount  of  prose  composition,  and  no  making 
of  verses  save  sufficient  to  learn  the  rules  of  c{uantity, 
and  he  doubts  whether  these  are  worth  the  trouble 
of  learning  them.  On  the  other  hand,  as  necessary, 
he  would  have  the  pupil  make  a  careful  study  of 
his  native  language  ;  and  he  sharply  criticizes  those 
who  neglect  their  vernacular  to  devote  themselves 
to  Latin,  "not  considering,"  he  says,  "that  the 
Romans  wrote  in  their  own  language  and  not  in 
Greek."  He  recommends  that  the  pupil  be  practised 
in  French  composition,  writing  "  first  narrations, 
then  letters  and  other  easy  pieces,  next  biographic 
accounts  of  great  men,  and  commonplaces  of  morals  ; 
avoiding  nonsense  and  false  thoughts,  let  him  ex- 
press with  gravity  his  real  sentiments." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  what  European 
writers  on  education  are  Jipt  to  call  the  Americaniza- 
tion of  studies,  meaning  doubtless  the  emphasis  laid 
on  what  is  likely  to  be  useful  in  a  man's  future 
career,  was  first  proposed   as  a  definite  scheme  more 


134         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

than  two  centuries  ago  by  this  eminent  French  his- 
torian and  i)hiloso})her ;  and  tliat  he  possibly  goes 
fartlier  in  this  direction  than  Americans  would  be 
willing  to  follow  him  at  present. 

As  respects  the  arrangement  of  studies,  Fleury 
would  defer  formal  grammar  to  the  age  of  ten  years 
on  account  of  its  abstract  character ;  would  intro- 
duce logic  at  the  age  of  twelve,  which  is  much  too 
early  ;  and  would  have  several  lines  of  study  carried  ^ 
on  together,  in  order  to  develop  the  faculties  simul- 
taneously, and  to  guard  against  ennui  by  letting 
one  study  afford  relief  from  another.  Above  all,  he 
insists  on  the  training  of  the  judgment,  while 
neglecting  in  his  treatment  of  education,  the  culti- 
vation of  the  sensibilities  and  the  w^ill,  a  curious 
oversight  in  a  French  ecclesiastic  who  was  one  of  the 
most  morally  upright  men  of  his  age. 

III.  I  have  named  as  a  third  characteristic  of  the 
17th  century,  that  we  have  in  it  the  beginning  of 
a  struggle  to  introduce  practical  reforms  into  the 
methods  and  spirit  of  education,  and  to  widen  the 
range  of  school  subjects  beyond  the  narrow  and  too 
exclusively  humanistic  limits  of  Sturm  and  the 
Jesuits,  whom  we  may  here  consider  as  types.  This 
struirele  on  the  same  lines  has  been  continued  to  the 
present  day.  Under  whatever  name  carried  on,  it 
has  been  an  effort,  not  always  well-judged,  to  adjust 
the  school  subjects  in  conformity  with  the  demands 
of  an  advancing  culture,  and  to  conform  the  methods 


SOME    CHARACTERISTICS  135 

and  spirit  of  instruction  to  the  real  or  supposed 
nature  of  the  developing  mind  of  the  child,  which 
too  often  was  very  imperfectly  understood. 

The  leaders  in  this  contest,  whom  Von  Raumer 
terms  Innovators  (Neuerer)  without  intending  to 
imply  either  praise  or  blame  in  the  name  he  gives 
them,  were  naturally  enthusiasts,  and  hence  liable 
to  be  unmeasured  in  their  criticism  of  what  they 
would  reform,  and  disinclined  to  consider  duly,  in 
the  changes  which  they  propose,  the  limits  of  the 
practicable.  Thus  reactions  were  sure  to  succeed  to 
untimely  and  hence  unsuccessful  efforts  at  advance- 
ment ;  and  we  shall  be  likely  to  see  considerable 
oscillations  in  educational  opinions  and  practice  in 
the  course  of  this  struggle,  whilst  on  the  whole  a 
sensible  progress  may  be  observed  towards  the  adop- 
tion of  whatever  in  the  purposes  of  the  Innovators 
experience  has  proved  to  be  judicious. 

We  have  seen  already  in  the  most  sagacious  spirits 
of  the  16th  century,  in  men  like  Erasmus  and  Vives, 
Rabelais  and  Montaigne,  obvious  indications  of  an 
opinion  that  classical  studies  and  efforts  for  classic 
purity  of  expression,  were  occupying  too  exclusive 
attention,  and  that  very  considerable  changes  were 
needed  in  the  modes  in  which  subjects  were  presented. 
They  have  demanded  a  larger  place  in  instruction 
for  history,  mathematics,  and  the  sciences  of  nature. 
They  have  shown  that  instruction  may  be  made 
more  profitable  to  the  pupils  by  being  invested  with 


13G  THE    HISTORY    OF    ISrODERN     EDUf'ATION 

a  living  interest,  and  have  in  general  terms  sug- 
gested objective  methods  as  a  means  for  assuring 
such  an  interest. 

Under  the  impulse  of  such  previously-expressed 
theories,  and  inspired  by  the  rising  philosophic  spirit 
of  the  17th  century,  of  which  Bacon  and  Descartes 
were  the  most  eminent  rejDresentatives,  the  educa- 
tional Reformers  of  this  age  began  a  gallant  crusade, 
destined  to  be  of  long  duration,  against  exclusive- 
ness  in  the  choice  of  studies,  and  against  antiquated, 
ineffective,  and  time-wasting  methods  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  schools. 

In  the  efforts  of  the  Reformers,  we  shall  be  able 
to  distinguish,  I  think,  certain  great  fundamental 
points  of  general  agreement  amid  many  minor 
individual  variations  in  opinion  or  in  application  of 
the  same  principle.  In  the  second  volume  of  his 
"  Geschichto  der  Piidagogik  "  pp.  5-8,  Von  Raumer 
formulates  as  fundamentals,  eighteen  |)rinei})les  of 
the  Innovators,  in  what  seems  to  me  a  probably- 
unconscious  spirit  of  hostile  criticism.*  From  what 
Von  Raumer  has  given,  containing  some  proposi- 
tions held  by  but  few  of  the  Reformers,  I  have 
selected  nine  in  wliich  there  is,  I  think,  a  pretty 
substantial  agreement  among  them.  These  we  will 
consider  in  the  next  chapter  ;  and  they  will  furnish 

*  These  will  be  found  translated  in  Barnard's  Journal  Vol.  VI.  p.  ^59.  in 
whic'li  is  also  given  some  account  of  .lesuit  intrigues  for  the  subversion  of 
rival  schools,  as  well  c:atholic  as  Protestant. 


f5oME    CIIARACTERISTirS 


137 


an  appropriate  introduction  to  an  account  of  some 
of  the  most  famous  Reformers,  while  saving  us  the 
trouble  of  much  wearisome  repetition.  They  will, 
indeed,  serve  as  a  standard  with  wliich  we  may 
readily  compare  the  efforts  and  the  practice  of 
many  individuals. 


SOME  EDUCATORS   MENTIONED  IN  THIS  CHAPTER 

P.    118  P.    118 


SIR  ISAAC  XEWTON, 
1642-1727 


GOTTFRIED  WILHELM  LEIB- 
NITZ, 1646-1716 


P.   127 


RENE  DESCARTES,  1596-16.50 


CHAPTER  VI 

PRINCIPLES    OP    THE    EDUCATIONAL    REFORMERS 

In  the  last  chapter,  after  observing  what  were  the 
general  facts  in  virtue  of  which  the  educational 
history  of  the  17th  century  has  a  somewhat  special 
character  which  differentiates  it  from  the  ages  that 
preceded  it,  we  entered  upon  a  closer  consideration 
of  the  extent  to  which  ecclesiastical  influence  dom- 
inated the  education  that  was  given,  and  of  the 
counteraction  to  this  influence  which  besran  to  maui- 
fest  itself  as  a  consequence  of  the  acceptance  of  the 
Baconian  and  Cartesian  philosophic  doctrines.  At 
the  close  of  that  chapter,  I  gave  a  general  view  of 
the  purposes  that  the  race  of  Reformers  which  then 
arose,  strove  to  attain.  Let  us  now  consider  in  some 
detail  the  fundamental  educational  principles  in 
regard  to  which  there  is  substantial  agreement 
among  them.  These  were  accompanied  in  individ- 
ual instances,  it  may  be  remarked,  with  erratic  and 
unreasonable  views,  which  will  be  best  considered 
when  the  occasions  arise.  Omitting  sucli  cases,  and 
in  some  instances  putting  into  a  single  statement 
what  would  seem  to  be  only  different  phases  of  the 
sane  principle,  I  will  state  \^:)n  Raumer's  eighteen 
propositions,  under  the  form  of  nine  })rinciples. 

(1)  The  Reformers  insist  on  conformity  to  nature 
(139) 


140         THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

in  the  processes  of  education,  yet  frequently  without 
distinct  ideas  of  what  such  conformity  imphes.  For 
example,  we  shall  find  Comenius,  the  greatest  of 
them  all,  drawing  abundant  strained  analogies  with 
the  course  of  external  nature  in  sui)port  of  some  of 
his  propositions ;  not  distinguishing  the  nature  of 
the  youthful  mind  which  is  to  be  reckoned  with, 
from  the  phenomena  of  the  material  universe,  which, 
however  striking  may  be  their  analogies  with  parts 
of  the  educative  process,  have  really  nothing  to  do 
with  it. 

(2)  They  oppose  as  a  dead  cram  of  memory  the 
practice  hitherto  prevailing,  especially  among  the 
philologists,  of  requiring  much  to  be  committed  to 
memory  which  was  not  at  all  understood.  "  They 
desire  to  enliven  instruction,  since  they  take  into 
account  the  understanding  of  children,  in  just  the 
same  measure  that  they  postpone  the  exertion  of 
memory."  Hence  they  insist  that  nothing  be  mem- 
orized until  it  is  understood,  thus  appealing  to  the 
memory  through  the  understanding,  and  thereby 
fostering  the  intellectual  activity  of  the  child. 

(3)  Insisting  with  apparent  justice  that  hitherto 
mere  mechanical  processes  have  held  the  place  of 
methods,  they  offer  a  method  of  proceeding  from  the 
sim})lest,  most  obvious,  and  easiest  elements  of  every 
subject,  gradually  Unfolding  its  complex  parts,  and 
so  advancing  to  the  completed  science  by  steps 
nicely  graduated  to  the  growing  powers  of  the  caild. 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    REFORMERS  141 

In  this  way  they  have  sanguine  liopos  that  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  will  be  made  ra})id  as  well 
as  delightful,  and  that  the  necessity  of  punishment 
will  thereby  be  obviated.  Some  of  them,  like  Come- 
nius,  prepared  text-books  to  illustrate  this  method 
which  were  long  in  use,  presumably  with  more 
satisfactory  results  than  heretofore  had  attended 
instruction,  and  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
notice  hereafter. 

(4)  They  emphasize  the  importance  of  the  ver- 
nacular as  the  common  study  of  all  pupils,  without 
which,  as  has  before  been  said,  anything  like  uni- 
versal education  is  obviously  impossible.  At  the 
outset,  the  reformers  contented  themselves  with 
insisting  that  the  native  tongue  should  be  taught 
before  the  Latin  or  parallel  with  it,  and  that  the 
learning  of  Latin  should  be  made  easier  by  its  aid  ; 
and  the  school  books  of  Comenius,  as  we  shall  see, 
were  intended  to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  Latin 
together  with  all  useful  knowledge,  by  the  aid  of  the 
vernacular.  But  the  literary  growth  of  modern 
languages,  as  well  as  the  efforts  of  the  Reformers, 
has  tended  constantly  to  push  the  Latin  more  and 
more  into  the  background  ;  until  from  being  supreme 
in  the  realm  of  learning,  and  the  consecrated  vehicle 
of  all  that  is  worth  knowing,  it  has  been  reduced  to 
play  the  wholly  subordinate,  yet  still  very  useful 
part,  of  (lisci})lining  some  of  the  noblest  powers  of 


142  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

youth, — an  office  which  was  little  thought  of  at  the 
time  which  we  are  considering. 

(o)  The  Reformers  have  insisted  from  the  outset, 
and  since  that  time  with  constantly  increasing  em- 
phasis, upon  the  claims  in  instruction  of  those  great 
groups  of  studies  which  the  Germans  designate  as 
Real  studies,  i.  e.,  those  in  which  skill  in  the  use  of 
language  serves  only  as  a  convenient  instrument  for 
the  expression  of  ideas.  Thus  Comenius  and  ]\Iilton 
and  Locke  would  have  Latin  mastered  as  a  means 
of  "conveying  to  us  things  useful  to  be  known  ;  " 
whilst  Basedow  and  Pestalozzi,  Bain  and  Herbert 
Spencer,  would  remit  it  to  Fleury's  class  of  studies 
merely  curious,  and  would  strive  after  Real  knowl- 
edge by  the  aid  of  the  vernacular,  with  modern 
languages  as  possible  convenient  auxiliaries.  In 
close  alliance  with  this  insistence  on  Real  studies, 
has  been  the  emphasis  laid  on  proper  care  of  the 
body  and  cultivation  of  its  powers.  This  we  shall 
see  abundantly  in  the  treatises  of  Milton  and  Locke, 
of  Rousseau  and  the  German  Reformers,  and  in  the 
widely  influential  treatise  on  Education  by  Herbert 
Spencer. 

(6)  A  leading  article  of  faith  amongst  the  Reform- 
ers has  always  been  a  belief  in  the  primary  impor- 
tance of  cultivating  the  powers  of  observation  through 
which  we  gain  our  introduction  to  the  objectf  world, 
and  without  whose  accurate  use  they  have  believed 
that  all  our  intellectual  operations  would  be  likely  to 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    REFORMERS  143 

be  clouded  with  doubt  or  vitiated  by  error.  The 
training  of  the  senses  had  ah-eady  been  suggested 
by  the  preceding  theorists  :  with  the  Reformers,  it 
has  become  a  principle.  No  doubt  there  has  been  a 
remarkable  lack  of  skill  in  many  of  the  efforts  to 
give  a  systematic  training  to  observation  ;  yet  despite 
all  failures,  the  present  age  is  more  than  ever  con- 
vinced of  its  value  and  its  necessity,  as  is  witnessed 
by  the  establishment,  in  our  higher  institutions,  of 
laboratories  for  all  sciences. 

An  integrant  part  of  this  principle,  is  a  conviction 
of  the  necessity  of  utilizing  in  instruction  the  child's 
previous  experiences,  that  he  may  become  conscious 
of  their  relations  to  tlie  various  subjects  he  pursues ; 
and  also  of  the  expediency  of  requiring  application 
of  what  has  been  learned,  that  it  may  be  exposed  to 
no  risk  of  becoming  mere  dead  knowledge  lodged  in 
the  mind,  but  may  promote /acti%  or  the  ability  to 
act  in  accordance  with  what  is  known. 

(7)  The  Reformers  have,  it  seems  to  me,  been, 
criticized  with  undue  severity  by  Von  Raumer,  for 
the  emphasis  that  has  been  laid  by  all  the  later  ones, 
on  the  need  that  pupils  should  embody  ideas  as  soon 
as  they  are  clearly  grasped  in  proper  words  and  cor- 
rect forms  of  expression.  If  indeed  in  some  cases 
this  principle  has  been  so  unskilfully  applied  as  "  to 
unduly  hasten  the  natural  course  of  development  of 
children,"  or  "to  promote  an  unnatural  and  un- 
child-like  introspection  and  self-observation,"  it  can 


144  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

hardly  iuvuliJate  the  pro})o,sitiou  that  even  as  a 
body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  a  spirit  without 
embodiment  is  hkely  to  be  evanescent,  and  tliat  hence 
the  stock  of  really  useful  ideas  cannot  greatly  tran- 
scend the  powers  of  definite  expression.  Recall  to 
mind  in  this  connection,  Montaigne's  pregnant  ex- 
pression about  clear  ideas  and  the  ability  to  clothe 
them  in  language. 

(8)  There  has  been  an  undoubted  disposition 
amongst  all  the  Reformers  to  magnify  the  use&il  as 
means  of  education,  and  to  prefer  such  a  training  as 
may  assure  worldly  success.  We  have  already  seen 
that  this  has  been  termed  with  somewhat  oppro- 
brious meaning,  the  Americanization  of  education, 
yet  it  is  very  far  from  being  an  idea  of  American 
origin,  as  we  have  recently  seen  in  the  scheme  of 
the  Abbe  Fleury,  and  as  we  shall  have  abundant 
occasion  to  observe  hereafter.  This  idea  is  wont  to 
be  stil  farther  stigmatized  as  devotion  to  "bread 
and  butter  studies."  A  not  wholly  unfair  answer  to 
such  appeals  to  prejudice  would  be  to  demand  the 
converse,  i.  e.,  the  employment  of  studies  obviously 
useless,  merely  as  a  mental  gymnastic.  A  fair  state- 
ment of  the  question  would  possibly  be  tills,  that 
chief  emphasis  in  education  should  be  laid  on  the 
development  of  the  powers  and  capabilities  of  youtli  ; 
that  studies  should  be  selected  and  arranged  with 
chief  reference  to  this  ])urpose  ;  but  that,  as  between 
studies  equally  ada})ted  to  this  end,  either  singly  or 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    REFORMERS  145 

in  combiiuitioD,  the  clioice  should  always  fall  uj)ou 
those  which  will  best  subserve  the  uses  of  life  :  and 
an  additional  reason  for  such  choice  is  found  in  the 
natural  utilitarianism  of  the  young,  who  are  always 
most  readily  interested  in  that  of  which  they  can 
see  the  use.  Without  interest  there  is  apt  to  be  little 
self-activity,  and  so,  little  real  development  of  powers 
and  capabilities. 

(9)  The  greatest  fault  of  the  Reformers,  I  am 
inclined  to  think,  is  and  has  been,  that  in  fact  rather 
than  in  theory,  they  neglect  the  educational  use  and 
hence  the  cultivation  of  the  imagination.  In  this 
Von  Raumer's  indictment  is  possibly  just  though 
somewdiat  sweeping.  He  says  "  There  is  with  them 
no  thought  of  the  Beautiful.  Music,  drawing,  etc., 
they  teach  in  a  rationalistic  and  anti-artistic  fashion  : 
all  poetry  is  thrust  into  the  back-ground,  or  else 
treated  with  loveless  and  joyless^  coldness :  we  kill 
poems  by  analyzing  and  interpreting  them."  Severe 
words,  yet  useful,  if  they  serve  to  direct  our  atten- 
tion to  a  fault  that  it  may  be  amended. 

For  it  admits  of  little  doubt  that  not  only  in  the 
relish  for  poetry  and  the  fine  arts  is  there  a  legiti- 
mate work  for  all  schools,  but  also  that  in  the  ordin- 
ary duties  of  instruction  there  is  a  wide  sphere  of 
usefulness  for  the  realiziyig  and  picturing  imagination, 
and  that  without  it,  very  many  studies  like  geog- 
raphy,   history,  literature   of  all   kinds,  and    even 


140  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ordinary  lessons  in  reading,  lose  a  large  part  of  their 
value. 

These  then  are  what  seem  to  me  to  be  in  general 
the  fundamental  ideas  and  tendencies  of  the  educa- 
tional Reformers,  nearly  all  of  which  will,  I  suppose, 
commend  themselves  to  our  acceptance  as  worthy  to 
be  incorporated  in  educational  practice,  and  likely 
in  most  cases  to  make  the  results  of  instruction  bet- 
ter and  more  acceptable  than  they  have  yet  become. 
It  will  now  be  useful  to  inquire,  to  what  is  due  the 
latent  and  open  opposition  which  such  ideas  have 
met,  and  the  tardiness  with  which  they  are  becom- 
ing effective  in  education  ;  for  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  it  is  nearly  three  centuries  since  this  reforma- 
tory movement  began. 

Doubtless  the  most  formidable  obstacle  which  the 
innovations  proposed  by  the  Reformers  have  had  to 
encounter,  has  been  the  intellectual  conservatism  of 
mankind.  In  virtue  of  this,  men  preoccupied  with 
old  ideas,  and  accustomed  to  old  methods,  are  indis- 
posed to  listen  to  novelties,  and  still  less  disposed  to 
accept  them.  Outside  of  the  schoo'  md  the  circle 
of  schoolmen,  too  few  people  are  inclined  to  trouble 
themselves  with  school  questions,  of  the  nature  and 
reasons  of  which  they  have  no  definite  idea,  while 
they  have  still  less  comprehension  of  the  results 
which  are  likely  to  flow  from  proposed  changes. 
They  leave  all  these  to  the  experts,  to  the  school- 
men.    But  the  older^  more  experienced,  and  more 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    REFORMERS  147 

influential  among  these,  already  habituated  to  other 
ideas  and  modes  of  work  which  they  feel  unable 
readily  to  change,  arc  likely  to  o})pose  to  novelties, 
not  merely  inertia,  but  active  hostility,  not  less 
weighty  because  blinded  by  prejudice.  It  demands 
more  than  ordinary  pedagogic  genius  to  keep  the 
mind  always  open,  at  all  periods  of  life,  to  the  access 
of  new  ideas,  and  to  retain  an  always  unbiassed 
judgment  in  the  examination  of  such  ideas. 

It  is  therefore  chiefly  among  the  younger  teachers, 
who  are  not  yet  fixed  in  an  immovable  routine,  that 
new  educational  ideas  and  methods  must  look  for 
their  first  converts,  and  work  their  slow  and  painful 
way  towards  a  more  general  acceptance.  Where 
seminaries  for  the  training  of  teachers  exist,  and  are 
in  the  hands  of  zealous  and  progressive  men,  ideas 
of  approved  merit  are  more  rapidly  disseminated 
and  utilized  in  the  schools  ;  but  such  seminaries  were 
unknown  in  the  17th  century,  and  but  little  known 
in  the  IStli.  Hence,  when  we  consider  the  first 
obstacle  only,  there  is  small  reason  to  wonder  that 
the  principles  of  the  Innovators  made  but  slow 
progress. 

The  second  obstacle  that  was  to  be  overcome 
existed  in  the  very  nature  of  the  changes  that  were 
proposed.  They  were  novel  in  the  very  highest 
degree  ;  and  as  A^on  Raumer  aptly  remarks,  they 
widened  the  pedagogic  horizon  so  excessively  that  the 
unaccustomed  sight  could    not   compass    it.     They 


148  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

rau  counter  in  nearly  every  respect  to  the  current 
ideas  and  the  current  practice  of  tlie  age.  The  set 
of  school  studies,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was 
almost  exclusively  in  the  direction  of  Greek  and 
Latin  authors  :  the  Reformers  demanded  that  the 
curriculum  should  be  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
many  new  studies,  for  which  in  many  cases  books 
suitable  for  school  use  w^ere  lacking,  and  for  all  which 
no  teachers  were  at  hand,  learned  in  the  subjects 
and  trained  to  present  them  properly.  Latin  was 
the  common  language  of  the  schools,  and  was  con- 
secrated there  by  an  immemorial  use  :  the  Reformers 
ask  that  it  shall  abdicate  its  exclusive  empire  in 
favor  of  vernacular  tongues. 

The  usage  of  the  schools  appealed  almost  solely 
to  the  memory  through  the  agency  of  persistent  drill, 
without  any  too  curious  inquiry  as  to  the  adaptation 
of  subjects  to  the  student's  capacity,  in  the  blind 
confidence  that  at  some  future  period  what  was 
memorized  might  come  to  be  understood  :  the  Re- 
formers demand  that  henceforth  subjects  shall  be 
graded  to  the  abilities  of  pupils,  and  that  nothing 
shall  go  into  the  memory  which  has  not  previously 
passed  through  the  crucible  of  the  judgment  and 
understanding, — thus  asking  of  teachers  that  they 
shall  exchange  an  easy  and  mechanical  customary 
routine  for  a  method  which  would  require  of  them 
an  activity  of  spirit  as  incessant  as  should  be  the 
efforts  expected  from  the  pupils. 


rRTNCIPLER    OK    THE    in':F()i;MKRS  149 

The  ])()\V('r  of  acuto  and  accurate  observation  bad 
become  well-nigli  atropbied  in  botb  teachers  and 
puj^ls  by  ancestral  disuse  :  the  Reformers  ask  that 
this  dormant  power  shall  at  once  be  called  into 
active  use,  in  the  interest  of  the  understanding,  and 
for  the  purposes  of  instruction.  Hitherto  the  body 
had  been  left  to  care  for  itself,  with  the  usual  result 
of  devastating  epidemics ;  and  school-rooms  had 
from  mediaeval  times  been  dark,  gloomy,  and  full 
of  evil  smells  :  the  Reformers  demand  now  that  the 
body  shall  be  duly  cared  for  by  the  observance  of 
the  ordinary  conditions  of  healthy  living  ;  and  that 
communities  shall  at  once  be  at  the  expense  of  sup- 
plying as  suital;)le  accommodations  for  the  nurture 
of  their  children,  at  least  as  they  do  for  the  keeping 
of  their  horses. 

We  need  go  no  farther  in  this  contrast  of  what 
had  so  far  been,  and  what  is  now  demanded  in  the 
way  of  change.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  however 
reasonable  all  these  demands  may  seem  to  us,  they 
would  naturally  appear  excessive  to  the  men  of  the 
1 7th  and  1  <Sth  centuries  ;  that  they  would  be  likely  to 
appear  to  them,  not  a  series  of  needful  changes,  but 
a  complete  revolution  ;  and  that  so  vast  a  widening 
of  the  pedagogic  horizon  would  recpiire  generations 
to  prepare  the  unaccustomed  vision  to  compass  it, 
in  its  full  extent.  This  consideration  may  possibly 
prepare  us  not  to  judge  too  harshly  of  the  tardiness 
in  reforms  of  the  two  centuries  preceding  our  own  ; 


150         TIIK    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDtTOATlON 

especially  if  we  reflect  that  we  have  not  yet  fully 
reached  the  measure  of  what  ought  to  be  expected 
from  us. 

We  have  seen  that  two  obstacles  to  the  ready 
acceptance  of  proposals  for  educational  reforms  grew 
respectively  out  of  the  inertia  of  human  nature,  and 
out  of  the  novelty  of  the  proposed  changes.  A  third 
obstacle  sprang  from  a  source  that  would  hardly  be 
anticipated,  and  that  was  from  the  Reformers  them- 
selves. Enthusiastic  as  they  were,  and  deeply  pene- 
trated with  a  conviction  of  the  value  and  necessity 
of  what  they  proposed,  they  yet  had  not  grown  to 
the  full  measure  of  their  own  ideals.  Astonished  as 
they  doubtless  were,  at  the  inertness  of  their  contem- 
poraries, like  them,  they  had  themselves  great  need 
of  growth  in  the  full  appreciation  of  wliat  was 
implied  in  the  reforms  which  they  advocated. 
Hence  they  were  not  always  completely  in  harmony 
with  their  own  fundamental  principles  :  nor  were 
they  usually  wholly  successful  in  exemplifying  them 
in  practice.  To  them  the  ancient  sarcasm  "  physi- 
cian, heal  thyself,"  might  often  have  been  justly 
directed. 

Reformers  are  not  more  likely  to  be  perfect  than 
other  men  ;  and  sometimes  the  personal  characteris- 
tics of  the  educational  reformers  were  not  such  as  to 
win  favor  to  the  doctrines  that  they  preached. 
Thus  their  first  representative,  Ratich,  made  a  dis- 
mal fiiilure  of  all  his  efforts,  due  even  more  to  his 


PRINCIPLKS    OP    TIlE    REFORMERS  151 

hateful  traits  of  character  than  to  his  lack  of  prac- 
tical skill  in  exemplifying  his  principles  ;  and  the 
ill  success  of  Basedow  in  the  18tli  century  was  due, 
at  least  in  part,  to  jiersonal  causes,  whilst  his  i)ublic 
was  in  an  expectant  and  receptive  mood. 

The  really  great  Comenius  often  shows  his  lack  of 
thorough  comprehension  of  his  fundamental  ideas, 
by  violating  them  again  and  again  in  the  school- 
books  that  he  wrote  ;  and  both  his  text-books,  and 
his  darling  pansophic  scheme,  reveal  how  greatly 
he  overrated  the  powers  of  mental  assimilation  in 
youth,  and  how  fearful  a  load  he  imposed  on  mem- 
ory :  his  Janua,  for  example,  in  which  he  treats  all 
knowledge  in  a  fragmentary  way,  expects  a  youth  in 
mastering  this  to  master  8,000  Latin  words.  The 
brilliant  Rousseau  pushes  sound  principles  to  whim- 
sical extremes,  and  so  mingles  them  with  paradoxi- 
cal expedients,  as  to  leave  one  uncertain  where  to 
find  the  boundary  line  which  separates  principle 
from  })aradox, — thus  becoming  rather  the  inspirer 
than  the  leader  of  reformatory  efforts.  Even  the 
venerated  Pestalozzi,  who  now  stands  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  triumj)hing  reform,  was  distin- 
guished rather  by  flashes  of  pedagogic  insight  than 
by  any  firm  grasp  of  principles,  which  he  constantly 
violated  ;  and  he  owes  his  enduring  fame  to  his 
peculiar  personality  rather  than  to  any  thorough 
exemplification  of  pedagogic  i)rinciples.  It  is  pos- 
sible that  the  critical  spirit  which  Von  Raumer  dis- 


ir)2  THE    HISTORY    OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

plays  in  presenting  the  principles  of  the  Reform,  is 
aimed  largely  at  the  embodiment  of  them  which  he 
had  for  some  time  observed  in  Pestalozzi's  often 
inconsistent  practice. 

Besides  errors  arising  from  the  imperfect  appre- 
hension by  the  leading  reformers  of  the  demands  of 
their  own  fundamental  ideas,  and  which  delayed 
the  changes  that  they  desired  ;  certain  individual 
vagaries  of  opinion  may  possibly  have  caused  judi- 
cious persons  to  distrust  the  entire  scheme  which 
they  represented.  Thus  Comenius  was  inclined 
greatly  to  overrate  the  shaping  power  of  school-edu- 
cation, and  almost  seemed  to  fancy  that  it  can  make 
of  a  child  what  it  will :  others  overrated  the  results 
likely  to  flow  from  the  methods  which  they  advo- 
cated, like  Ratich  and  Basedow  ;  or  joined  with  this 
a  disposition  to  underrate  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
er's personality,  as  did  Pestalozzi,  who  dreamed  that 
methods  of  instruction  might  bo  so  mechanized  that 
their  results  should  depend,  not  on  the  skill  of  the 
teacher,  but  on  the  nature  of  the  lyrocesses  that  he 
used.  The  opportunities  for  hostile  criticism  which 
such  extreme  opinions  in  prominent  persons  would 
afford,  can  readily  be  imagined ;  and  also  how 
easily  they  could  be  made  to  cloud  with  doubt  the 
validity  of  an  entire  body  of  pedagogical  doctrine, 
their  connection  with  which  was  a  mere  unessential 
personal  accident. 

Such  then  were  the  formidable  obstacles  which  the 


PRINCIPLES    OK    THE    REFORMERS  '   153 

struggle  initiated  in  the  17th  century  for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  circle  of  studies,  and  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  methods  of  instruction,  has  had  to  meet 
and  slowly  to  overcome.  They  were  such  as  every 
beneficial  attempt  to  reform  existing  usages  has  been 
obliged  to  surmount ;  and,  moreover,  they  were  in 
their  very  nature  such  as  to  demand  for  their 
removal,  generations  of  educational  progress,  and 
the  slow  growth  of  better  and  more  enlightened 
opinions.  Hence  it  should  afford  no  just  occasion 
for  surprise  that  educational  principles  which  are 
mostly  so  obviously  just,  have  met  with  an  accept- 
ance so  tardy,  and  that  we  ourselves  are  called  upon 
to  be  actors  in  the  final  stages  of  a  crusade  which 
was  begun  nearly  three  hundred  years  ago.  May 
we,  by  learning  wisdom  from  the  past,  prepare  our- 
selves to  act  wisely  our  part,  as  inheritors  of  its 
experience. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS 

Wolfgaiig  Ratich,  1571-1635 

Wolfgang  Ratich  or  Rathke,  was  the  first  of  the 
Innovators  who  attempted  to  give  a  practical  form 
to  theories  of  education.  He  was  born  in  Holstein 
in  1571,  received  a  good  education  at  a  gymnasium 
and  at  the  University  of  Rostock,  and  afterwards 
sj)ent  a  number  of  years  in  England  and  in 
Amsterdam,  engaged  in  various  studies,  amongst 
which  were  Hel^rew  and  Arabic.  When  about  forty 
years  old,  he  began  an  agitation  for  a  reform  of  the 
methods  of  education.  In  1612  he  offered  a  memo- 
rial to  the  German  Empire  at  the  diet  in  Frankfort, 
in  which  he  proposed  with  the  help  of  God  to  show 
how  various  languages  may  be  taught  easily  and 
learned  more  thoroughly  and  quickly  than  hereto- 
fore ;  how  schools  may  be  established  in  which  all 
arts  and  sciences  may  be  thoroughly  learned  ;  and 
"  how  in  the  whole  kingdom  one  and  the  same 
speech,  one  and  the  same  government,  and  finally 
one  and  the  same  religion,  may  be  commodiously 
and  peacefully  maintained." 

This  memorial  attracted  favorable  attention  from 
some  of  the  German  princes  who  supplied  him  with 

(154) 


SEVENTEENTJI    CENTURY    REFORMERS  155 

money  for  his  enterprise  and  appointed  two  learned 
commissions  to  examine  his  scheme.  Both  of  these 
commissions  made  favorable  reports.  Near  the  close 
of  his  life  another  commission  likewise  reported 
favorably  upon  his  ideas.  From  this  it  would 
appear  that  his  propositions  for  reform  were  met  at 
first,  not  with  prejudiced  opposition,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  but  rather  with  favor.  Hence  the 
utter  failure  of  all  his  efforts  was  due,  not  to  either 
of  the  first  two  obstacles  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  but  to  the  remarkable  defects  of  his  own 
charaoier. 

Von  Raumer  gives  a  long  account  of  Ratich,  which 
has  been  translated  in  Barnard  V.,  p.  229  ;  to  which 
Dr.  Dittos  has  added  much  of  value  that  has  recently 
come  to  light  in  some  of  the  letters  of  Ratich.*  Botli 
these,  and  especially  the  latter,  reveal  his  personal 
traits  of  character  in  a  most  unlovely  light.  These 
we  will  consider  later  as  showing  what  one  should 
not  be  to  succeed  as  a  reformer.  For  several  years 
after  his  Frankfort  memorial,  he  made  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  found  schools  in  various  cities,  all  of 
which  failed  "because  he  would  neither  give  a 
specimen  of  his  method  nor  impart  a  plan,"  fearing 
lest  his  secret  might  be  filched  from  him  and  enure 
to  the  advantage  of  education  through  some  one 
else.  Indeed  "  ho  had  declared  tliat  he  would  only 
sell  his  discoveries  to  a  prince  at  a  dear  rate,  and 

*  Schule  der  PMagogik,  Part  IV.,  §  28th. 


156  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

upon  the  consideration  that  the  men  of  learning  to 
whom  he  should  communicate  them  should  promise 
to  conceal  them."  One  of  his  contemporaries  perti- 
nently asks  "  Would  Christ,  the  apostles,  and  the 
prophets  have  done  so?"  These  were  the  acts  of  a 
charlatan  peddling  some  secret  quack  nostrum,  and 
as  a  charlatan  he  was  discredited  in  South  Germany. 

Yet  in  1618,  he  found  two  princes  who  were 
influenced  to  aid  him,  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  and  his 
relative,  Ludwig  of  Anhalt-Kothen.  Under  their 
patronage  he  M^ent  to  Kothen,  where  learned  men 
were  engaged  as  his  assistants,  and  a  printing  house 
established  to  prepare  text-books  embodying  his 
method  in  six  languages.  After  more  than  a  year 
spent  in  preparation,  the  long-expected  school  opene4 
in  June,  1619,  with  about  430  boys  and  girls  divided 
into  two  divisions,  a  lower  and  an  upper  one,  each 
of  these  having  two  or  three  grades.  In  the  lower 
were  taught  in  German  the  usual  elementary 
branches,  the  upper  division  advanced  to  Latin  and 
then  to  Greek. 

Soon  complaints  from  the  inspectors,  then  quarrels 
of  Ilatich  with  every  one  around,  began  ;  he  first 
com})lained  to  the  prince,  his  patron,  then  slandered 
and  insulted  him  ;  and  in  little  more  than  four 
months  from  the  opening  of  the  school,  we  find  the 
Didactiker,  as  he  was  called,  in  prison  with  only  a 
Bible  for  his  comjmnion  which  he  was  advised  to 
read  and  profit  by.     After  several  months  in  prison 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  REFORMERS     157 

he  was  released  after  signing  a  humble  retraction  of 
his  slanders,  and  acknowledging  that  he  had  pro- 
fessed what  he  could  not  perform. 

Then  he  went  to  Magdeburg,  where  at  first  all 
was  favorable  to  him  ;  but  here  too  was  repeated  the 
same  story  as  at  Kothen  with  some  variations.  He 
quarrelled  with  the  magistrates  ;  he  intermeddled 
with  church  matters,  and  quarrelled  with  the  pas- 
tor ;  his  secretive  and  jaunty  ways  offended  others  ; 
news  of  his  conduct  at  Kothen  came  to  add  to  his 
disfavor  ;  and  in  1622  he  was  again  without  a  place. 
For  some  years  afterward  he  went  from  place  to 
place  supported  by  certain  princely  personages,  al- 
ways just  about  to  do  great  things,  but  always  pre- 
vented by  wicked  and  envious  persons  who  wanted 
to  steal  his  precious  discoveries ;  he  was  sought 
out  by  Oxenstiern,  the  great  Swedish  chancellor, 
whom  he  treated  somewhat  cavalierly  ;  was  solicited 
for  counsel  by  Comenius  whose  letter  he  never 
answered  ;  and  finally  ended  his  unhappy  life  in 
1635  at  Erfurt,  dogged  always  by  evil  spirits  of  his 
own  raising. 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  of  the 
Innovators,  the  career  of  Raticli  seems  to  me  chiefly 
useful  in  the  history  of  education  as  an  example  of 
what  a  successful  school  reformer  should  not  be. 
He  had  no  practical  ability  as  a  teacher  or  manager. 
At  Kothen  he  did  not  pretend  to  teach  himself,  but 
only  to  impart  his  secret  methods  confidentially  to 


158  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

his  subordinates.  Any  practical  experience  in  teach- 
ing might  have  guarded  him  from  pretending  to 
teach  to  old  or  young  the  mastery  of  any  language 
in  six  months  by  three  or  four  hours'  study  a  day, 
— a  pretension  so  absurd  that  it  might  justly  dis- 
credit with  judicious  persons  any  merits  that  he 
possessed. 

He  utterly  lacked  the  worldly  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence which  any  successful  teacher  should  possess, 
and  especially  if  he  adopts  the  role  of  a  reformer. 
This  lack  is  markedly  shown  in  his  treatment  of  all 
his  benevolent  patrons,  and  was  amusingly  exemi^li- 
fied  in  the  case  ol  Oxenstiern,  who  told  Comenius 
that  after  he  had  taken  great  trouble  to  see  Ratich, 
the  latter,  instead  of  granting  him  an  interview,  sent 
him  a  thick  quarto  to  read.     "  I  surmounted  the 
tedious  work,"  says  the  Swedish  chancellor,  "and 
after  running  through  the  whole  book,  I  saw  that  he 
depicts  the  faults  of  the  schools  not  badly,  but  the 
remedy  which  he  proposes  for  them,  seemed  to  me 
insufficient." 

His  faults  of  character,  as  they  are  depicted  in 
his  letters,  as  well  as  in  his  career,  were  such  as  to 
unfit  him  for  any  influence  among  men.  Ho  was 
conceited  and  boastful  to  an  astonishing  degree, 
ready  always  to  vaunt  what  he  could  do  to  an  extent 
that  only  the  greatest  performance  could  justify,  and 
that  his  failures  made  ridiculous.  Without  al)ility 
to  direct,  he  was  arrogant  and  tyrannical  to  all  who 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    KEFORMERS  159 

were  about  him  ;  he  had  a  violent  aud  shmderous 
tongue  wliich  lie  did  not  restrain  from  ljlamin<^  and 
speaking  ill  of  his  benefactors  as  well  as  of  his 
coadjutors ;  he  was  ({uarrelsome,  as  we  have  seen  ; 
his  suspicious  temper  disposed  him  continually  to 
conjure  up  phantom  enemies  who  were  laying  traps 
to  surprise  his  secrets  ;  and  withal,  he  had  no  real 
love  for  the  profession  that  he  pretended  to  reform, 
no  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  its  well-being,  but 
merely  a  i)etty  self-seeking  desire  to  reap  profit  and 
credit  from  his  discoveries,  accompanied  by  a  haunt- 
ing fear  that  some  one  might  forestall  him  in  this. 
Dr.  Dittes  thus  sums  up  the  lesson  of  liis  life : 
"  Moreover  his  career  is  an  eloquent  proof  of  this 
truth,  that  theory  alone  is  no  security  for  practical 
success  in  teaching  :  that  this  ratlier  presupposes 
skill,  i)atience,  worldly  prudence,  unbiassed  sense, 
before  all,  pure  devotion  to  the  idea  of  human  cul- 
ture free  from  vanity  and  personal  ambition." 

But  it  may  reasonably  be  asked,  had  then  Ratich's 
ideas  no  merit?  Undoubtedly.  Plis  great  merit,  in 
my  opinion,  is  that  he  first  conceived  the  need  and 
importance  of  a  systematic  art  of  teaching,  and  gave 
thereto  some  helpful  precepts  which  he  himself 
could  not  successfully  exemplify  in  practice,  and  the 
efhcienc}^  of  which  he  as  grossly  overestimated  as  he 
seems  to  have  undervalued  the  personal  agency  of  the 
expert  teacher, — the  latter  being  an  error  into  wliich 
unpractical  mdhodikcrs  are  peculiarly  liable  to  fall. 


IGO  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

Tlie  commission  of  Giessen  professors  who  early 
rej)orted  favorably  on  his  scheme,  after  detailing 
some  of  its  prominent  ideas,  conclude  that  his 
method  "  has  its  sure  foundations  and  Its  definite 
rules  which  are  derived  from  the  nature  of  the  entire 
man,  senses,  memory,  and  reason,  as  well  as  from 
the  peculiarities  of  the  arts,  sciences,  and  languages." 
They  emphasize  his  art  of  teaching  as  enabling  one 
"to  do  his  work  much  more  safely,  surely,  and  per- 
fectly," and  say  "  Therefore  it  is  necessary  that  there 
be  an  especial  art,  in  accordance'  with  which  every 
one  who  desires  to  teach  may  direct  and  guide  him- 
self, tliat  he  may  pursue  his  calling,  not  in  accord- 
ance with  his  mere  unaided  judgment  and  guess, 
nor  also  only  according  to  his  inborn  discretion,  but 
in  accordance  with  the  art  of  teaching ;  just  as  he 
who  wishes  to  sing  correctly  must  be  guided  by  the 
art  of  singing." 

Of  the  maxims  which  make  up  Ilatich's  Art  of 
teaching,  Von  Rammer  gives  nine,  and  Schmidt 
thirteen.  I  will  give  them  briefly,  combining  some 
with  others  to  which  they  are  allied,  and  })remising 
that  of  those  which  I  shall  state,  the  last  four  and 
the  first  do  not  appear  in  Von  Raumer's  list.  1. 
Learning,  so  far  at  least  as  reading  and  writing  are 
concerned,  is  an  universal  right  from  which  no  one 
should  be  debarred.  2.  Everything  should  bo  learned 
first  in  the  vernacular,  and  ])U[)ils  sliould  proceed  to 
other  languages,  only  when  they  have  become  ready 


seventeenth:  century  reformers  161 

iu  their  own.  3.  The  order  and  course  of  nature 
shoukl  be  followed,  proceeding  from  the  low  and 
siniide  to  the  great  and  high.  4.  Teach  but  one 
thing,  one  language  or  art,  one  book  at  a  time,  and 
pass  to  no  other  till  that  is  mastered  ;  an  idea  which 
would  bore  instead  of  interesting  pupils,  if  followed. 

5.  Often  repeat  the  same  thing,  repetition  assuring 
memory — a  maxim  which  Ratich  applied  in  a  most 
tiresome  method  of  teaching  languages,  and  which 
in  this  century  has  been  the  basis  of  the  once  famous 
but  now  exploded  systems  of  Hamilton  and  Jacotot. 

6.  Let  nothing  be  learned  by  rote,  that  the  under- 
standing may  not  be  weakened.  7.  Let  there  be 
uniformity  in  all  things,  in  books  as  well  as  methods, 
that  languages  and  every  art  may  be  presented  by 
the  same  method  and  on  the  same  plan.  This 
ignores  the  capital  fact  that  every  group  of  studies 
has  its  own  peculiar  subject-matter,  and  its  own 
special  method,  e.  g.,  mathematics,  and  natural 
science.  8.  Matter  should  be  given  first,  and  then 
rules  and  princii)les,  e.  g.,  language  first,  and  then 
the  grammar  of  the  language.  9.  Let  all  be  taught 
by  experience  and  piece-meal  investigation,  and  verify 
every  rule  by  examples.  10.  Let  no  })upil  bo  beaten 
on  account  of  his  learning,  but  only  for  obstinacy 
and  evil  ways.  11.  Let  separate  schools  be  estab- 
lished for  diff'erent  languages.  12.  Let  each  school 
have  its  special  teacher,  who  shall  at  stated  times 
give  reports  to  the  higher  school  authorities.      No.'s 


162  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

11  and  12,  it  may  be  seen,  are  merely  corollaries  of 
No.  4.  13.  Girls  should  be  instructed  by  proper 
and  skilful  women. 

Of  these  thirteen  maxims,  six  are  expressly  or  by 
implication,  common  to  Ratich  with  the  succeeding 
Reformers.     His  method  so  far  as  he  developed  it, 
was  applied  only   to   languages,  though   Helvicus, 
one  of  the  Giessen  professors,  had  early  drawn  at- 
tention   to    its    applicability    to    science    teaching. 
Ratich,    however,    seems    never   to    have    proposed 
science  teaching,  and  to  have  considered  logic  and 
rhetoric  as  Real  studies.     Some    of  his  maxims  if 
applied  would  lead  to  absurdities,  especially  the  4th 
with  its  correlated  11th  and  12th.     The  5th  which 
is  good  in  its  proper  place,  he  made  the  basis  of  an 
extremely  tiresome  method.     The  7th  might  be  so 
used,  within  due  limits,  as  to  be  useful ;  yet  as  he 
states  it,  it  is  incompatible  at  present  witli  good 
teaching.     The  first  and  last  maxims,  which  belong 
not  to  the  art  of  teaching  but  to  school  statesman- 
ship, are  now  generally  accepted  ;  but  Ratich  bor- 
rowed them  from  Luther. 

His  career  is  of  interest  solely  as  being  that  of  the 
first  of  the  Innovators,  and  in  any  other  country 
than  Germany  it  would  have  remained  in  the 
oblivion  to  which  failures  are  consigned,  and  from 
which  it  has  been  exhumed  only  by  painstaking 
research, 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS 


163 


COMENIUS,  1593-1671 

As  Prof.  Laurie  says, 


John  Amos  Comenius,  1592-1671 

This  great  educator,  organizer,  and  reformer  was 
born  in  an  obscure  town  in 
Moravia  in  1592.  His 
parents  dying  when  he 
was  still  very  young,  his 
early  education  was  great- 
ly neglected  by  his  guar- 
dians, so  that  he  had  only 
the  barest  elements  of 
knowledge  up  to  his  seven- 
teenth year,  when  first  he 
was  sent  to  a  Latin  school, 
this  belating  of  his  education  was  probably  an 
advantage  to  pedagogy,  since  from  the  relative 
maturity  at  which  he  entered  on  the  study  of  Latin, 
he  was  made  more  keenly  aware  of  the  exceeding 
badness  of  the  mode  in  which  it  was  taught,  and 
hence  was  prompted  to  efforts  to  improve  it. 

Of  the  schools  of  his  boyhood  he  feelingly  says, 
"  they  are  the  terror  of  boys,  and  the  slaughter- 
houses of  minds,. ...places  where  a  hatred  of  books 
and  literature  is  contracted,  where  ten  or  more  years 
are  spent  in  learning  what  might  be  acquired  in 
one,  where  what  ought  to  be  poured  in  gently  is 
violently  forced  in,  and  beaten  in,  where  what  ought 
to  be  put  clearly  and  perspicuously  is  jDrcsented  in  a 
confused  and  intricate  way,  as  if  it  were  a  collection 


164  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

of  puzzles,.... jjlaccs  where  minds  are  fed  on  words  ;  " 
and  again  he  says,  "  Boyliood  is  distracted  for  years 
with  precepts  of  grammar,  infinitely  prolix,  per- 
plexed, and  obscure,  and  for  the  most  part  useless. 
Boys  are  stuffed  with  vocalnilaries  without  associat- 
ing ivords  with  tilings,  or  indeed  with  one  another 
syntactically."  I  quote  here  these  words  of  his 
from  his  biographer,  Prof  Laurie,  both  to  show  the 
nature  of  the  processes  agaiiist  which  he  fought, 
and  the  impression  that  they  made  on  the  young 
scholar. 

At  the  age  of  twenty  we  find  Comenius  studying  at 
the  University  of  Herborn  and  later  at  Heidelberg ; 
at  twenty-two  he  was  teacliing  a  village  school  in 
Moravia,  and  striving  to  better  methods  by  simpli- 
fying Latin  grammar  ;  and  at  twenty-four  he  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  of  the  Moravian  Brethren 
and  soon  after  married.  The  breaking  out  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  in  1618  disturbed  his  peaceful 
pursuits  ;  early  in  its  course,  all  his  property  was 
destroyed  including  his  library  and  manuscripts  ; 
for  some  years,  his  life  was  spent  in  hiding  places  ; 
and  in  1627,  he  was  banished  from  his  native  laud 
never  more  to  return.  In  his  exile,  his  improved" 
and  simplified  school-books  and  other  pedagogic 
labors  made  him  famous.  He  was  summoned  to 
England,  to  Sweden,  and  to  Hungary  for  aid  in  the 
bettering  of  learning  and  improvement  of  schools; 
and  in  l6o4  he  was  offered  and   declined  the  })resi- 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  165 

dency  of  Harvard  college,  his  fame  having  reached 
even  far  distant  America.  His  long  and  useful 
career  was  brought  to  a  close  in  Holland  in  107 1. 

In  skill  in  teaching  and  organizing,  in  freedom 
from  jealousy  and  readiness  to  cooperate  with  others, 
in  gentleness  under  detraction,  in  readiness  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  men  with  whom  he  was  brought  in 
contact  and  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed,  and  in  simplicity  and  modesty  of  nature, — 
his  entire  career  and  character  were  in  marked 
contrast  with  those  of  the  unhappy  Ratich.  He 
lived  for  others  rather  than  for  himself ;  fame  sought 
him  rather  than  was  sought  by  him  ;  and  he  has 
no  need  now  like  Ratich  of  an  industrious  historian 
to  rescue  his  name  and  efforts  from  oblivion.  Amer- 
ica has  united  with  Germany  in  celebrating  with  ap- 
propriate ceremonies  the  third  centenary  of  his  birth. 

To  this  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  in  which  I  have 
confined  myself  to  what  might  give  insight  into  his 
pedagogic  career,  must  be  added  this  remark  which 
will  reveal  the  cause  of  the  intense  "  Sense-Realism  " 
and  the  grasping  after  universal  knowledge,  which 
appears  in  all  his  school  books.  He  was  profoundly 
impressed  with  the  views  of  Bacon  ;  and  through 
the  hold  that  Bacon  gained  upon  him,  the  philoso- 
phic spirit  of  that  age  gained  its  most-enduring 
influence  upon  pedagogy.  But  he  was  troubled 
because  'Hhe  noble  Vcrulam,  while  giving  the  true 
key  of  nature,  did  not  unlock  her  secrets,  but  only 


166  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

showed  by  a  few  examples  liow  they  should  be 
unlocked."  He  dreamed  of  beiug  one  of  those  who 
should  further  this  great  work  by  "  the  issuing  of  a 
complete  body  of  science  as  then  understood,"  that 
investigators  might  clearly  know  the  point  from 
which  they  should  start  in  its  advancement.  "  This 
complete  statement  of  the  entire  circle  of  knowledge 
he  called  Pansophia."  This  he  desired  to  make  his 
chief  work  in  life.  For  this  he  made  great  collec- 
tions of  materials  which  he  called  his  Silva  of  Pan- 
sophy,  and  which  were  burned  wath  his  library  in 
Poland  in  1654.  His  pedagogic  labors  were  always 
with  him  mere  incidents  in  a  career  which  he 
intended  chiefly  to  devote  to  pansophy  ;  and  thus, 
like  many  another  man,  his  incidental  services  were 
of  vastly  greater  moment  than  the  work  which  he 
really  intended.  His  pansophic  work  was  never 
realized,  and  would  have  been  of  no  great  service 
had  it  been  completed ;  but  his  pansophic  ideas 
were  ever  with  him,  and  color  all  his  educational 
ojiinions  and  works. 

The  services  of  Comenius  to  pedagogy  were  of  a 
threefold  character,  in  each  of  which  his  merit  was 
very  great.  1st.  He  was  the  true  originator  of  the 
principles  and  methods  of  the  Innovators  ;  2d.  he 
was  a  great  educational  systematist ;  and  3d.  he  was 
the  author  of  improved  text-books  which  were  long 
and  widely  famous.  Let  us  consider  him  in  each 
of  these  aspects. 


SKVENTEENTII  OENTURY  REFORMERS     167 

(1)  There  is  little  need  to  enter  into  detail  upon 
tlie  ])cdagogic  principles  which  lie  at  the  foundation 
of  the  wliole  method  of  Comenius.  They  are  those 
which  have  already  been  described  as  common  to  all 
the  reformers,  wdth  their  utilitarianisin  and  sense- 
realism  strongly  emphasized,  and  their  neglect  of 
imagination  easily  observable.  Indeed  he  may 
rightfully  bo  called  their  originator ;  for,  although 
Ratich  had  preceded  him  by  a  few  years  in  the 
formulation  of  a  portion  of  these  principles,  mingled 
however  with  vitiating  errors,  he  had  forfeited  all 
just  claims  to  priority  b}'-  his  jealous  secretiveness, 
by  his  treatment  of  his  ideas  as  a  secret  nostrum  for 
all  educational  ills,  and  by  his  utter  failure  to  apply 
them  to  any  practical  use.  Hence  the  honors  of 
paternity  passed  from  him  to  Comenius,  who  re-dis- 
covered tliem  when  discredited  l)y  failure,  who 
sagaciously  discerned  their  real  value  and  applica- 
bility to  school  uses,  and  who  unselfishly  revealed 
them  to  the  whole  world  embodied  in  a  practical 
working  scheme. 

If  to  Ratich  is  due  the  merit  of  discerniuir  the 
necessity  and  value  of  an  Art  of  Education,  when 
as  yet  there  was  none,  to  Comenius  belongs  the 
honor  of  reducing  this  art  to  somewhat  systematic 
form  ;  of  illustrating  its  principles,  with  not  a  few 
errors  in  details,  such  as  are  incident  to  first  essays, 
and  which  later  he  acknowledged  to  Ijc  such  errors  ; 
and    of  presenting  these  principles    in    a    form    in 


l()f^  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDT'CATION 

which  tliey  have  since  been  widely  accepted.  He 
freely  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Bacon,  to 
Vives,  and  to  less  known  men  ;  but  what  he  drew 
from  others,  he  made  his  own  by  the  way  in  which 
he  used  their  hints. 

His  aim  was  knowledge,  graced  by  virtue,  and 
sanctified  by  piety.  For  the  attainment  of  this  aim 
in  school  training  he  believed  in  a  good  method  as 
something  absolute,  and  in  a  certain  sense  mechani- 
cal in  its  character,  as  leading  to  surely  preconceived 
results,  and  one  might  almost  say,  as  capable  of 
manfacturing  men  according  to  a  desired  pattern. 
It  is  easy  for  us  to  see  that  this  was  to  ascribe  far 
too  great  potency  to  method  and  to  the  art  of  teach- 
ing, and  too  lay  too  great  a  responsibility  for  results 
upon  teachers  ;  but  it  was  the  error  of  a  great  origin- 
ator in  the  primal  enthusiasm  of  entering  on  a 
hitherto  untrodden  way. 

His  root  idea  was  to  teach  all  things  first  in  their 
simplest  elements,  and  to  proceed  tlience  in  ever- 
widening  circles  ;  to  teach /rom  things  and  not  about 
them  ;  to  proceed  from  the  relatively  simple  to  the 
more  complex,  from  particulars  to  the  general,  from 
the  concrete  to  the  abstract,  from  the  vaguely  known 
to  the  definitely  apprehended,  advancing  ever  step 
by  step  and  by  insensible  degrees.  He  would  have 
all  things  presented  to  the  senses,  and  to  as  many 
senses  as  possible.  This  is  his  Sense-Realism.  He 
insists  on  the  immediate  use  of  all  things  that  are 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  REFORMERS     169 

learned,  and  upon  their  irpeatcd  use,  till  they  shape 
themselves  into  mental  habits  and  develop  into 
faculty.  These  are  the  best  features  of  what  we  of 
the  present  day  know  as  Pestalozzianism. 

A  pronounced  utilitarian  in  education,  always 
however  in  accordance  with  his  aim  as  before  stated, 
he  declares  himself  emphatically  opposed  to  teach- 
ing what  is  useless  or  too  special,  a  declaration  of 
which  there  was  but  too  much  need  in  his  day,  and 
which  may  possibly  deserve  to  be  borne  in  mind  in 
all  ages  He  required  that  all  explanations  should 
be  made  clear  as  light,  and  that  they  should  be 
proved  to  have  been  clear  by  the  pupil's  ability  to 
use  what  had  been  explained.  Finally,  he  demands 
that  all  subjects  should  be  proportioned  to  the  age 
and  capacity  of  pupils. 

To  prove  the  conformity  of  his  principles  of 
method  to  nature,  he  is  over-fond  of  appealing  to 
analogies  from  external  nature,  and  too  frequently 
these  analogies  are  whimsical  even  to  absurdity, 
especially  in  the  consequences  sought  to  be  derived 
from  them.  For  these,  if  any  one  is  curious  enough 
to  note  the  vagaries  of  a  great  mind,  misapprehend- 
ing the  true  meaning  of  conformity  to  nature  and 
of  the  sort  of  nature  to  which  we  should  conform,  it 
will  be  easy  to  refer  to  Prof.  Laurie's  Life  and  Edu- 
cational Works  of  Comenius,  pp.  84-98,  where  they 
will  be  found  in  abundance,  as  examples  of  his 
syncretic  method. 


170         THE    HISTORY    OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

In  what  has  here  been  said,  I  think  has  been  pre- 
sented a  brief  but  fair  sketch  of  the  great  merits  of 
his  method.  His  plan  of  organization,  and  his 
famous  books,  we  will  now  consider. 

(2)  We  have  already  seen  that  Sturm  had  pro- 
posed a  comprehensive  and  systematic  organization 
for  a  secondary  school  with  a  graded  series  of  studies 
extending  over  ten  years  ;  and  that  several  of  the 
German  states  had  in  the  16th  century,  placed  below 
their  six-class  Latin  schools,  also  German  schools  in 
which  should  be  taught  the  necessary  elements  of 
knowledge  in  the  mother-tongue.     It  remained  that 
some  one  should  prepare  a-  general  scheme  of  organ- 
ization, comprehending  all  the  years  of  instruction, 
setting  to  each  its  limits,  and  assigning  to  each  its 
appropriate   functions.     This  Comenius  undertook 
with  such  success  that  his  scheme  corresponds  re- 
markably  in   general    features    with    our   modern 
school    organizations.     He  proposed  to  divide   the 
years  of  pupilage  from  birth  to  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  into  four  equal  periods,  each  of  six  years,  and 
stated  distinctly  the  part  which  each  should  perform 
in  the  work  of  developing  progressively  the  powers 
of  the  child  and  youth. 

Up  to  the  age  of  six,  he  would  have  all  children 
trained  at  home  or  in  maternal  schools,  in  which 
the  easy  beginnings  of  all  knowledge  were  to  be 
imparted,  and  the  precious  germs  of  correct  personal 
and  moral  habits  were  to  be  implanted,  by  lessons 


SEVENTEKNTM    ('ENTttRY    REFORMERS  171 

on  objects  and  pictures,  and  by  direction  in  the 
observation  of  common  })henomcna.  The  amount 
of  time  which  Comenius  assigned  to  this  early  train- 
ing is  now  adopted,  as  is  also  the  general  subject- 
matter,  which  has  been  ingeniously  wrought  up 
into  systematic  form  during  the  present  century  by 
Froebel  and  his  followers  ;  but  the  idea  wliich  Com- 
enius entertained,  of  expecting  this  instruction  from 
the  mothers  of  families,  and  in  which  he  was 
seconded  by  Pestalozzi  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  later,  has  been  found  wholly  impracticable, 
as  might  have  been  anticipated  by  any  one  who 
knew  the  condition  of  the  vast  majority  of  mothers, 
especially  among  the  poorer  working  classes,  and 
the  various  distracting  demands  that  are  made 
upon  their  attention,  even  in  more  favored  families. 
Hence  this  highly  important  training  is  now  being 
assigned  during  its  last  three  years  to  regular  schools 
called  kindergartens,  or  Infant  schools,  with  results 
which  wholly  justify  the  emphasis  that  Comenius 
laid  on  the  right  direction  of  infant  efforts  and 
activities. 

From  the  age  of  six  to  twelve,  Comenius  proposed 
national  schools  for  all  children,  girls  as  well  as  boys. 
These  were  to  be  schools  wholly  devoted  to  the 
mother-tongue,  for  which  he  gives  weighty  reasons, 
though  he  would  ])ermit  some  modern  language  to 
be  taught  and  learn(>d  by  its  use  in  the  later  years. 
He  doubtless  saw  that    this    permission    was    little 


172         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

likely  to  be  used  save  in  the  border  lands  where  two 
different  languages  were  in  close  proximity.  The 
studies  in  these  national  schools  were  to  be,  reading, 
writing,  and  reckoning,  drawing,  measuring,  and 
some  handicrafts,  geography,  history,  Bible  history, 
and  singing.  Comenius  proposed  that  each  class 
should  have  a  lesson-book  containing  all  that  it  was 
to  learn  in  these  subjects,  as  well  as  in  morals  and 
religion, — an  expedient  which  has  not  commended 
itself  to  the  experience  of  succeeding  times.  The 
worthy  purpose  which  it  may  have  had  in  view,  of 
avoiding  the  expense  of  many  books,  is  now  attained 
in  German  elementary  schools  by  the  use  of  inexpen- 
sive outlines  on  which  is  based  a  large  amount  of 
oral  instruction  and  practice.*  Thus  the  spirit, 
though  not  the  form  of  the  recommendation  of 
Comenius,  has  been  preserved. 

The  intellectual  aim  proposed  for  the  national 
schools,  was  to  train  the  senses  and  the  memory,  the 
tongue  and  the  hand  of  all  children,  that  they  might 
learn  all  those  things  which  have  to  do  with  the 
usual  affairs  of  life,  and  which  hence  would  always 
be  useful  for  all,  whatever  might  be  their  future 
calling.  The  training  of  the  hand  in  mechanical 
dexterities  he  desires,  not  only  "that  boys  may 
understand  the  affairs  of  ordinary  life,"  but  "  that 
opportunities  may  thus  be  given  to  them  to  find  out 

*  For  example  a  set  of  these  outlines  now  before  me  (Leitfaden)  for  the 
grammar  instruction  during  five  years  of  the  citizen  schools,  cost  all  together 
twenty-four  cents. 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  173 

their  special  aptitudes."  The  bearing  of  this  on 
recent  efforts  for  manual  training  will  be  obvious, 
showing  Comenius  as  a  pioneer  in  this  effort.  The 
school  hours  for  the  national  schools,  Comenius  would 
make,  two  hours  in  the  morning  for  the  understand- 
ing and  the  memory,  and  two  in  the  afternoon  for  the 
hand  and  the  voice,  and  for  repetitions,  transcrip- 
tions, and  competitions  in  the  various  school  exer- 
cises, an  allotment  of  time  which  has  usually  been 
vei    considerably  exceeded  save  in  the  lowest  grades. 

The  Latin  school  or  gymnasium  which  was  to 
receive  boys  of  ages  from  twelve  to  eighteen,  Come- 
nius proposed  to  have  established  in  every  province 
or  considerable  town  ;  and  its  aim  should  be,  besides 
moral  and  religious  instruction  which  are  always  to 
be  prominent  objects,  to  train  the  understanding  and 
the  judgment  of  those  who  are  destined  to  something 
higher  than  commercial  and  manual  pursuits. 

In  this  the  course  is  to  be  encyclopaedic,  including 
four  languages,  viz.,  the  vernacular,  Latin,  Greek, 
and  Hebrew,  and  besides  these,  the  cycle  of  sciences 
then  known,  among  which  history,  "  the  eye  of  life," 
was  emphasized  as  to  be  studied  during  the  entire 
six  years  in  small  text-books. 

Comenius  does  not  expect  that  a  complete  knowl- 
edge of  any  subject  will  be  gained  in  the  Latin 
school,  but  only  that  "  a  sure  foundation  shall  be 
laid  in  each  for  future  acquirements.''  The  same 
allotmeiit  of  school  hours  is  recommended  for  the 


174  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

gymnasium  as  for  the  national  school,  and  a  like 
assignment  of  the  more  difficult  subjects  to  the 
morning  hours,  while  the  afternoons  are  set  apart 
for  history,  repetitions,  and  writing.  The  gymna- 
sium was  to  be  divided  into  six  classes,  and  these 
were  to  be  so  named  as  to  indicate  the  order  in 
which  subjects  should  be  begun  ;  the  1st  to  be  called 
grammar,  the  2d  physics,  the  3d  mathematics — 
physics  to  precede  mathematics  as  being  less  abstract 
— the  4th  ethics,  the  5th  dialectics  or  logic,  and  the 
6th  rhetoric.  The  reasons  for  this  order  of  arrange- 
ment  on  pedagogic  grounds  Comenius  gives  in  his 
Magna  Didactica. 

For  the  period  from  the  age  of  eighteen  to  that  of 
twenty-four,  Comenius  proposed  that  there  should 
be  established  an  academia,  i.  e.,  university  in  every 
country  or  large  province,  to  which  should  be  sent 
only  the  elite  youth,  selected  for  their  talent  through 
a  public  examination  by  the  rectors  of  the  schools, 
and  in  which  should  be  retained  only  those  who 
approved  themselves  both  capable  and  industrious. 
The  aim  of  the  university  should  be  to  train  the 
future  teachers,  and  the  leaders  of  nations  in  thought 
and  action.  In  it,  all  sciences  should  be  taught, 
from  which  students  should  select  as  specialties 
those  for  which  they  have  the  greatest  taste  ;  while 
at  the  same  time  he  would  have  systematized  sum- 
maries prepared,  both  as  introductions  to  the  several 
specialties,  and  as  enabling  those  who  devote  them- 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  175 

selves  to  some  one  specialty  to  gain  some  idea  of  its 
relations  to  other  departments  of  human  interest, — 
a  useful  purpose  if  properly  carried  out.  He  like- 
wise prescribes  afternoon  conferences  of  professors 
with  students,  to  clear  up  misunderstandings,  doubts, 
or  seeming  contradictions  ;  and  he  suggests  the  form 
of  the  final  examinations,  that'  "  no  one  may  be 
crowned  without  victory." 

Finally  Comenius  suggests  that  there  be  some" 
where  a  Schola  Scholarum  for  the  purpose  of  original 
researches  that  should  advance  all  sciences,  make 
discoveries,  and  in  general  "be  to  the  rest  of  the 
schools  what  the  stomach  is  to  the  body, — the  living 
workshop,  supplying  sap,  life,  and  strength."  It 
may  be  said  that  the  German  universities  as  now 
conducted,  j^erform  the  important  functions  of  both 
university  and  place  of  research,  as  conceived  by 
Comenius  ;  but  they  leave  the  weak  and  indolent 
students  to  eliminate  themselves  by  the  action  of 
examinations. 

(3)  The  text-books  of  Comenius  all  reveal  his 
pansophic  and  utilitarian  ideas  in  their  subject- 
matter,  since  they  grasp  after  useful  knowledge,  and 
strive  to  give  a  taste  of  all  useful  things.  In  the 
selection,  gradation,  and  arrangement  of  their  mat- 
ter, they  are  intended  to  exemplify  his  principles  of 
method.  In  this  they  are  not  entirely  successful, 
since,  as  lie  later  confessed,  they  are  too  condensed, 
attempt  too  much,  and  as  we  shall  presently  see, 


176  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

expect  of  the  pupil  more  than  can  be  accomphshed  ; 
as,  for  example,  one  of  them  has  somewhat  more 
than  8,000  Latin  words  which  pupils  are  expected 
to  master.  These  faults  of  detail  he  acknowledges 
to  be  due  to  his  neglect  of  his  own  principles. 

These  text-books  were  all  intended  to  aid  in  the 
mastery  of  Latin  together  with  the  mastery  of  things 
useful  to  be  known.  They  make  the  innovation, 
however,  of  basing  the  instruction  in  Latin  on  the 
vernacular  and  on  things.  Comenius  regards  the 
Latin  merely  as  a  means  needful  to  arrive  at  the 
knowledge  of  things  useful  to  be  known,  and  not  at 
all  as  a  discipline  of  the  powers,  nor  as  a  preliminary 
to  the  classic  literature,  some  of  which  he  considered 
useless,  and  some  as  unfit  matter  for  the  education 
of  Christian  youth.  His  text-books  were  hence 
intended  to  supersede  these  useless  or  pernicious 
works  in  school  instruction,  in  which  object  they 
utterly  failed,  though  their  extended  and  long-con- 
tinued use  in  the  schools,  indicates  that  they  were 
found  to  be  a  great  aid  in  acquiring  Latin.  These 
books,  named  not  in  the  order  of  their  publication, 
but  in  that  in  which  they  prepare  each  for  the  next, 
are  (1)  the  Orbis  Pictus,  (2)  the  Vestibulum,  (a)  the 
Janua,  and  (4)  the  Atrium  :  in  addition  to  which 
the  author  intended  to  prepare  a  Palace  of  Authors. 
Of  these  the  Orbis  Pictus  and  the  Janua  were  far 
the  most  famous,  and  of  both  these  I  have  copies 
before  me :  the  others  I   have  not  seen,  and   must 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  177 

rely  on  others  for  the  brief  mention  that  I  make  of 
them. 

(1)  The  Orbis  Pictus  or  World  Displayed,  is  justly 
famous  as  the  first  illustrated  school-book  that  was 
ever  published,  and  is  the  most  striking  example  of 
its  author's  leading  principle,  to  appeal  in  all  pos- 
sible cases  directly  to  the  senses  of  the  pupil.  In- 
deed, in  the  preface  to  it,  he  says  :  "  Now  there  is 
nothing  in  the  understanding  which  was  not  before 
in  the  sense.  And  therefore  to  exercise  the  senses 
well  in  rightly  perceiving  the  differences  of  things, 
will  be  to  lay  the  grounds  for  all  wisdom,  and  all 
right  discourse,  and  all  discreet  action  in  one's  course 
of  life."  In  harmony  with  this  idea,  Comenius 
presents  the  child  with  a  series  of  151  pictures,  rang- 
ing over  the  entire  circle  of  the  knowable.  The 
parts  of  the  pictures  are  numbered  to  correspond 
with  their  names  as  they  occur  in  brief  descriptions, 
which  are  given  in  both  Latin  and  the  vernacular 
placed  opposite  to  each  other  in  columns,  that  the 
one  may  be  explained  by  the  other.  All  these  pic- 
tures are  quaint,  and  some  of  them  in  a  high  degree 
curious,  for  example,  the  attempt  to  portray  the 
wind  in  No.  6,  the  soul  in  No.  43,  God's  Providence 
in  No.  149,  and  the  Last  Judgment  in  No.  150. 
This  book,  publislied  in  1657,  was  the  next  year 
translated  into  English  by  Charles  Hoole,  a  London 
schoolmaster,  with  a  preface  addressed  "to  all 
judicious  and  industrious  schoolmasters  ;  and  it  is 


178         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 


The  Air. 


VI. 


Aer. 


The  Soul  of  Man.  XLIII.  Anima  Hominis. 


Cuts  from  the  Orbis  Pictus. 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  179 


God's  Province 


CXLIX.  Providentia  Dei. 


The  Last  Judgment.      CL.      Judicium  Extremum. 


Cuts  from  thu  Orbis  Pictus. 


180  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

a  reprint  of  this  translation  that  I  have  now  before 
me.  This  book  went  through  many  editions,  had 
an  enormous  sale,  and  was  long  in  use.  It  was 
probably  one  of  the  most  popular  text-books  ever 
written. 

(2)  The  Vestibulum  or  porch  to  the  Latin  tongue, 
contains  1,000  Latin  words,  embodied  in  427  sen- 
tences, and  divided  into  seven  chapters.  The  Ger- 
man, and  Latin  are  given  in  parallel  columns,  the 
German  to  be  read  first  and  then  its  Latin  equiva- 
lent. Along  with  this  reading,  is  required  a  pro- 
gressive mastery  of  the  inflected  forms  from  appended 
tables  of  declensions  and  conjugations.  This  Latin 
primer  was  expected  to  be  studied  through  several 
times,  and  then  to  be  committed  to  memory.  The 
index  at  the  end  of  the  book  was  intended  to  test 
the  pupils'  memorv  of  the  senses  in  which  the  words 
occur.  With  this  as  a  preparation,  the  boy  might 
pass  on  to  the  Janua. 

(3)  The  Janua  Aurea  Linguarum  Reserata,  or  gold- 
en door  of  languages  swung  open,  specimens  of  two 
pages  of  which  are  here  presented  from  different  edi- 
tions, contains  1,000  sentences,  ranging  from  those 
somewhat  brief  and  simple  at  first,  to  those  of  con- 
siderable length  and  complexity  towards  the  end. 
These  sentences  are  grouped  in  100  sections,  treating 
each  some  phase  of  useful  knowledge,  tlie  whole  field 
of  which  they  are  intended  to  cover.  They  contain 
no  fewer  than  8,000  Latin  words.     The  vernacular 


The  Portal  to  the  GaEte  otTpi^&. 


Qiiatuor  EvangeliftaE,qulnqae 

fenfuSjfex  profefti  dies- 
Seprem  peticiones  in  Oratione 

Dominica. 
Ofto  dies  /unc  fcptimana. 
Ter  tria  funt  norcm. 
Decern  prccepca  Dei. 
Undecim  Apoftoli,  dempto 

]odL 
Diiodeclm  fidei  articuli. 
TrigintJ  dies  funt  mcnfis. 
Ccncum  anni  funr  fcculum. 
Saranas  eft  milk  fraodam  ar- 

tifex. 


CAP.  4. 
Z}e  rebu*  in  fchoU 

SChoIafticus       freqenrar 
fciiolam. 
Qu6  in  arcibus  erudiatur. 

Iniciumeftiliteris* 
E  fyllabis  voces  componuntur 
E  diftionlbus  fermo; 
Ex  libro  Icgimus  cadti. 
Autrccitamus  claret 
Involvimus  eum  nnembrana 
Et  ponimus  in  pulpito. 
Atramencum  eft  in  acramenta 
riojtn  quo  tingimus  calamum 
Scribiirut   eo  in  ciiarca,   in 

ucraque  pagina. 
Si  perperam,  delemus. 
Et  fignamus  denuo  reftc' ,  vel 

in  margine. 
Doftor  doccr. 
Difcipulus   dtfcic  non  omnia 

fimul,  fed  per  partes. 
PrsECcptor  pricipic  fadenda. 

Rfdor  regit  Acadcmiam 


Four  Evvigelifijt  fiyefenfesjfix 

"  working  d^tJ,  r!iSf*^* 

"Sezen  pttitim  in  ^*«  ^'W'a*^  l^JJbe  l; 

Pr/tyer.  Bifl»op<ofT 

lighc  eUjes  fti  a  witii-  LtnAiS'va. 

Thrice  ih'  it^m  nine.  *»'»  T"'^ 

TtnCommmdtmmi  ofOfd,     „,„,*;;^ 
ileven  ApoftltsJudM  bti^g  1^  ,he  Lord» 

cepted.  Supper 

rwslve  Articles  of  the  fahh-    d'^''»" 
Thirtf  dayes  are  a  mmeth. 
A  hundred  jetri  are  m  sgn 
Sum  it,  the  forger  of  <  thoiif«a)l 

deceits. 


them> 


ghap.  4. 

Ofthingsinafchool' 

A     Scholxr    faqucnitth  the 

"•    fthoole. 

Thu  he mmht  in/irudedin  the 

arts. 
The beginingit pom  Utters, 
ivurds  are  comp^ed  of  iylliblei, 
4(peechofwordi. 
n^e  rtdd/iltntlji  out  ofi  booli. 
Or  recite  it  tltud. 
Wf  wrap  it  up  in  parchment, 
eAndUyitin»dei\. 
Jnii  is  in  the  inlihjrnf  in  wh.ch 

we  dip  the  quill. 
we  rvrite  with  it  in  piper ^  on  ft' 

ther  page, 
Jfhid'y,  tve  blot  it  out. 
And  then  inttrli  it  in  the  line^or  iri 

the  mA(em. 
tA  tiachcr  le icheth, 
A/chtUr  kirntih  ndt  ciltogttbffy 

but  by  p£>tt. 
The  Mtfler  commmdfs  things  13 

be  dont,  (me. 

Tbt  Gmerttor  rulef%'tbt  Ac*de- 


viduam. 


6raDos&foima 

nonnunquatn  rivaies- 
amantcs  e^ciqnt 


W)em  li$  map  iae 
fo)  a  aarriagcabts 

(Si 2  Idoco^fsan^ 
beratp  Dee    inani» 


6x1  Procus  cum 
ebtinct  ut  ei  defpon  - 
(ieatnr,  fit  fpnfus  , 
&  quarnubit,Tponfa: 
ilk  fuu'ni  parauym- 
phutn  feu  prooobum, 
hsc  fuas  proiuibas 
labet. 


6f4  A 

&  utor 
poftridic 
unt. 


nuptus  vir 

duuiuar, 

repocia  fis 


'      "KtSEkATA    £T     AiSERTA.  ^^^f 

^6[  I  Matfimomu  e  1 1  21  Gngle m3n>  6i I  e^'u'imfmvegaf. 
inuurus  crelebs,  m-jO?  a  bac^tlens  b(3=  fon  w<  ;ew»c  Homme 
niiptu«»tlirpicic   fibipgtOKtatc^oyconriax^a  marli,    •voulant 

contrailer  manage 
tegardei  a  quiilfcra 
l\>4mttuit  aune  Bu- 
ceUe  ou  yiergtmari- 
able,  ou  eftant  yef, 
dune  Vefve. 

61 1  Le  Tiomtr'* 
culDot,  «^  la  Beau- 
tepTOcurent  qiielque' 
foii  des  ^moureux, 
des  RivaaXf  Corn 
vaux  ist  Scrviteurs. 

6i  5  L'^mourntx 
guarui  ihbtisot  ^'on 


Set  to  be  atffanccfi/'^'  icmdefon    A. 
btnrpt^»piomifeB»"'"W'W^  ^'^^• 

b^ttJegr^JWjSnb  Ibtt  (3'cdkquife  ^arie 


la  Fimcetf  l'EfpQH[e\ 
cduj-li  a  [on  paror- 
Jiymphg  ^  conduSeiu 


615  Quinatam,fi- 
liam  clocavu^  focer 


Bt  marrtagt,i^eiQcr|  '      ■'  ■* 

biftit  maidens.         "•.      ,      ,    ^. 

btnatticpaircfatbtS'^"*"'  '^^  <3ppcflc /< 
be  a  ^notjana  wn\^^^  «^  ^  '^^^'e  • 
irlfe:  tlje  IWrt  bap/e  lendemain  on  fait 
attcr  liJfnWftfiB*  atni\un  ficond Banquet. 
binqoettRSJB     bei 

a>!)0  tat^    ^»J  ce/«y  quia 


aabe. 
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£lb£n-(f0  l>aas^tct,p'»iWyd  FiJk  en  Ma- 


SEVENTEENTH    CRXTl'RY    KEFORMERS 


im 


translation  throngli  whose  aid  the  Latin  is  to  be 
learned,  is  in  parallel  columns  answering  to  the  Latin, 
and  one  copy  that  I  have,  published  in  1676,  is  adapt- 
ed for  study  in  either  German,  French,  or  Italian,  two 
pages  opposite  each  other  being  used  as  one  to  ac- 
commodate the  necessary  four  columns.  For  each 
of  the  languages  used  there  is  an  alphabetical  index 
of  words  at  the  end  ;  but  there  is  no  lexicon,  the 
intention  being  that  the  Latin  should  be  learned 
from  its  correspondence  with  the  mother-tongue ; 
for  Comenius  was  of  tlie  opinion  that  pupils  should 
make  their  lexicon  for  themselves  by  comparison  of 
Latin  usage  with  their  own. 

It  will  be  needless  to  more  than  allude  to  an 
edition  of  this  famous  work  published  about  1654, 
to  which  its  author  prefixed  a  lexicon  in  Latin  with 
Latin  definitions  to  be  first  memorized,  followed  by  a 
grammar,  also  in  Latin,  to  be  mastered  before 
preceding  to  the  Janua  itself  accompanied  by  no 
vernacular.  I  mention  it  merely  to  show  how  com- 
pletely a  great  reformer  of  method  may  abandon 
most  of  his  fundamental  principles,  when  com- 
pletely possessed  with  some  other  idea,  like  that  of 
treating  all  kinds  of  useful  knowledge  of  things, 
which  was  the  hobby  of  Comenius.  This  edition 
evidently  met  with  little  acceptance,  for  the  quad- 
rilingual  edition  of  1676,  shortly  after  the  death  of 
Comenius,  is  on  the  original  plan  of  the  Janua. 

This    book    had    an   enormous    success.     It   was 


J.'-!4  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN'     EDUCATION 

translated  into  twelve  European  languages,  and 
some  of  the  Oriental  ones.  The  Elzevir  edition  of 
1642,  which  I  have,  makes  Greek  take  the  place  of 
the  vernacular  ;  and  the  quadrilingual  edition  ac- 
counts for  three  of  the  European  tongues.  This 
book  like  the  others  that  have  been  described,  was 
intended  to  be  perused  ten  times,  with  much  writ- 
ing. No  one  need  therefore  to  doubt  that  Comenius 
believed  in  repetition  as  the  corner-stone  of  thorough- 
ness. 

(4)  Of  the  Atrium  no  more  need  be  said  than 
this,  that  it  was  a  much-expanded  Janua,  with  the 
same  number  of  chapters,  but  with  the  sentences 
expanded  to  paragraphs,  thus  widening  the  circle  of 
knowledge  of  the  same  subjects  ;  that  it  contained 
a  Latin  grammar  written  in  Latin,  introducing  the 
idioms  and  elegances  of  the  language :  and  that  it 
was  intended  to  lead  up  to  a  Palace  of  Authors 
which  was  never  prepared. 

As  a  whole,  these  treatises  are  progressive  in 
character,  in  spite  of  their  faults  in  matters  of  detail. 
They  serve  also  as  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
third  of  the  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  educational 
reform  mentioned  in  a  previous  chaj^ter,  that, 
namely,  which  springs  from  the  impossibility  that 
the  reformer  himself  should  so  entirely  free  himself 
from  early  prepossessions,  as  not  to  permit  them  some- 
what to  interfere  with  his  settled  principles  of  later 
date. 


SEVKNTEENTir    CENTURY    REFORMERS  185 

The  Magna  Didactica  is  the  great  work  in  which 
Comonins  has  set  forth  his  principles  of  education, 
and  his  tlieoretic  apphcation  of  them  to  methods  of 
instruction  and  organization.  What  is  needful  to 
our  purpose  in  these  regards  has  already  been  given. 
It  remains  only  to  speak  of  his  ideas  of  discipline. 
This  he  thought  should  be  wholly  mild  and  kind, 
and  that  adherence  to  his  system  would  "render  all 
severity  needless.  For  the  child,  he  reasoned,  who 
was  not  forced  to  study  but  allured  to  it,  by  kindly 
and  cheerful  treatment,  by  promotions  and  prizes, 
by  using  and  seeing  the  utility  of  all  he  learns, 
by  an  easy  and  orderly  procedure  from  perception 
of  things  to  ideas  and  words  which  he  remembers 
because  he  first  understands  them,  and  by  feeling  in 
himself  a  growth  of  insight  and  a  development  of 
thepower  to  judge  rightly, — would  be  little  likely  to 
need  severe  discipline.  In  this  idea  Comenius  was 
doubtless  right,  as  the  best  modern  school  practice 
abundantly  proves. 

To  those  who  desire  a  more  complete  knowledge 
of  the  life  and  works  of  this  greatest  and  most 
original  of  the  Innovators,  his  life  by  Prof.  Laurie, 
containing  an  analysis  of  his  works  can  be  confi- 
dently recommended.  American  educators  owe  to 
Mr.  C.  W.  Bardeen  an  excellent  reprint  of  the 
Orbis  Pictus.  Copies  of  the  Janua  are  not  impossi- 
ble to  be  obtained  through  dealers  in  German  books. 
For  those  who  read   German,  a  good   translation  of 


ISO  THE   HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  Magna  Didactica  is  published  in  Leipsic,  and  to 
this  is  prefixed  an  excellent  biography  of  Comenius 
and  an  analytic  statement  of  the  pedagogical  doc- 
trines of  the  work.  Its  German  title  is  "  Comenius, 
Grosse  Unterrichtslehre.  " 

In  the  introduction  to  this,  the  editor  adduces 
facts  to  prove  that  this  work,  published  first  in 
Bohemian  and  later  in  Latin,  was  little  known  dur- 
ing the  17tli  century. 

The  Port  Royalists 

The  teaching  community  of  Port  Royal,  in  the 
opinion  of  French  pedagogic  writers,  exerted  a  far 
more  pervasive  and  lasting  influence  on  education 
in  France  than  would  naturally  be  expected  from 
the  smallness  of  the  circle  in  which  it  acted,  or  the 
brevity  of  the  time  during  which  its  schools  con- 
tinued. The  little  schools,  as  they  were  called,  started 
into  being  in  1643,  and  after  an  existence  of  barely 
seventeen  years,  they  were  suppressed  by  the  Jesuits 
in  1660,  as  the  Oratorians  were  afterwards  (see 
page  242),  on  account  of  their  Jansenism.  To 
what  then  is  the  continuance  of  their  influence  to 
be  ascribed  ?  In  part,  I  think,  to  the  great  lit- 
erary activity  of  some  of  the  lay  brothers,  who  wrote, 
besides  some  pedagogic  treatises,  several  approved 
text-books,  long  current  under  the  name  of  Port 
Royal  books  ;  in  part  also  because  they  were  the 
French     representatives    of    some    highly    impor- 


SEVEl^tEENTtl    CENTURY    REFORMERS  1<S7 

tant  principles  of  the  educational  reformers,  which 
through  them  and  their  books  became  known  and 
influential. 

Thus  they  numbered  among  them  Nicole  who 
wrote  a  treatise  on  the  education  of  a  prince,  in 
which  he  recommends  an  appeal  to  the  senses  in 
instruction  wherever  possible,  that  difficulties  be 
proportioned  to  the  growing  powers  of  the  young, 
and  that  in  the  education  of  tlie  great,  chief  stress 
be  laid  on  the  heart  and  the  morals,  rather  than  on 
acquired  knowledge.  He  recognizes  also  what  is 
now  known  as  Apperception,  describing  it  as  "  the 
inner  light  of  the  mind,"  without  whose  aid  sub- 
jects cannot  be  understood.  Of  this  number  were 
also  Coustel,  who  wrote  a  work  entitled,  "  Rules  of 
Education  for  Children  ;  "  Lancelot,  who  wrote  the 
methods  of  Port  Royal  for  teaching  Latin,  Greek, 
Italian,  and  Spanish,  and  also  a  catalogue  of  the 
root  words  of  Greek,  with  the  inviting  title  "  Garden 
of  Greek  Roots ;  "  and  Arnauld,  celebrated  for  his 
controversy  with  the  Jesuits,  who  aided  in  writing 
the  Elements  of  Geometry,  the  Port  Royal  Logic  or 
art  of  thinking,  and  a  "  General  Grammar,"  in 
which  the  universal  laws  of  language  are  sought  in 
the  reason  common  to  human  beings,  and  who  wrote 
also  a  treatise  entitled  "  Reglement  des  Etudes." 
These  various  works  of  the  Port  Royalists  became 
widely  known  and  esteemed,  and  perpetuated  their 
influence  lono-  after  their  schools  were  disbanded. 


188         THE    HISTORY   OF    MODER?^     EDUCATION 

In  the  line  of  reform,  one  of  their  great  merits  was 
the  stress  which  they  laid  on  the  vernacular.  In 
that  age  the  mother  tongues  received  little  attention, 
as  we  have  seen  ;  yet  the  Port  Royalists  made  French 
the  basis  of  all  instruction.  Whereas  Latin  gram- 
mar was  usually  taught  in  Latin,  ''  the  unknown  by 
the  unintelligible,"  as  Prof  Compayre  wittily  re- 
marks, they  prepared  in  French  not  only  a  Latin 
grammar,  but  likewise  grammars  for  the  Greek  and 
some  modern  languages.  Pupils  were  also  taught 
to  compose  in  French  at  an  early  age  on  subjects 
suited  to  their  powers,  and  this  work  in  composition 
was  directed  to  the  training  of  judgment  as  well  as 
to  the  attainment  of  skill. 

In  language  study  they  greatly  simplified  and 
abridged  definitions  and  rules  ;  they  impressed  the 
meaning  of  rules  by  their  immediate  use  in  the  read- 
ing of  authors  ;  they  made  the  most  important  parts 
prominent  by  such  expedients,  not  then  common,  as 
difference  of  type  ;  they  protested  against  the  abuse 
of  written  themes,  demanding  that  the  most  time  be 
given  to  the  explication  of  authors,  of  which  they 
made  rather  an  exercise  of  judgment  than,  like  the 
Jesuits,  a  study  of  words  ;  they  made  also  the  trans- 
lation into  Latin  more  an  oral  than  a  written  exer- 
cise, while  verse-making  was  entirely  optional ;  in- 
stead of  giving  colorless  extracts  from  authors,  like 
the  Jesuits,  they  preferred  entire  works  of  Latin 
authors  ;  and  they  taught  Greek  to  the  pupil  through 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  189 

the  medium  of  his  own  language  instead  of  through 
Latin,  as  was  usual.  Compayre  thinks  their  un- 
questionable superiority  is  as  teachers  of  humanistic 
studies  ;  yet  humanities  with  them  were  not  human- 
ities of  mere  form  as  with  the  Jesuits,  but  of  judg- 
ment leading  to  a  sound  use  of  reason  and  to  an 
upright  conscience.  Their  effort,  indeed,  was  rather 
to  improve  the  old  than  to  introduce  the  new. 

Burnier,  quoted  by  Compayre,  thus  sums  up  the 
pedagogic  principles  and  merits  of  Port  Royal :  "  It 
simplified  study,  without  taking  from  it  its  whole- 
some difficulties  :  it  strove  to  make  study  interesting, 
while  not  converting  it  into  a  puerile  play  :  it  caused 
to  be  committed  to  memory  only  that  which  had 
first  been  grasped  by  the  intelligence :  it  admitted 
only  perfectly  clear  and  distinct  ideas,  few  precepts 
and  many  exercises  on  them,  the  knowledge  of  things 
and  not  merely  that  of  words ;  in  short,  the  real 
development  of  thought  and  of  the  faculties  of  the 
soul  by  means  of  study."  So  far  their  ideas  and 
methods  seem  identical  with  those  of  the  reformers, 
from  whom  however  tftey  differed  widely  by  the 
light  esteem  in  which  they  held  positive  knowledge  ; 
since,  in  the  words  of  Nicole,  they  valued  "the 
sciences  only  as  an  instrument  to  perfect  reason," 

Their  discipline  was  mild  and  kindly  considerate, 
but  with  a  tone  of  gravity  in  it  akin  to  ascetic  gloom. 
They  eschewed  any  resort  to  praise  and  emulation 
as   tending   to   arouse    pride   and    self-satisfaction. 


190  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

Their  motto  "to  speak  little,  endure  much,  and  to 
pray  still  more,"  shows  how  entirely  they  relied  on 
the  aid  of  God  and  on  the  prayers  addressed  to  Him 
for  the  success  of  their  work.  They  had  "a  deep 
distrust  of  human  nature,"  which  was  shown  by  the 
check  which  they  put  on  the  formation  of  friendships 
among  the  boys.  "  Pious  practices  they  held  in 
honor,  yet  they  subordinated  them  to  the  reality  of 
inward  sentiment ;  hence  they  advised  devotion,  but 
did  not  imiiose  it."  "  Above  all  they  manifested  the 
profound  and  unwearying  devotion  of  Christian  souls 
who  give  themselves  wholly  and  without  reserve  to 
other  souls  to  elevate  them,  but  injured  and  marred 
by  a  shade  of  rigidity  and  mysticism." 

Such  was  this  small  and  short-lived,  yet  largely 
influential  teaching  congregation  ;  exemplifying  in 
their  own  way  and  coloring  with  their  own  spirit 
some  of  the  most  far-reaching  principles  of  the  edu- 
cational reformers.  Suspected,  coerced,  and  finally 
silenced,  their  methods  and* the  best  features  of  their 
spirit  survived  them,  in  the  next  age  taking  the 
form  of  the  wise  Rollin  ;  and  their  protest  against 
the  Jesuitic  spirit  in  education,  through  the  letters 
of  Pascal,  gathered  force  ultimately  to  overthrow 
temporarily  those  by  whom  they  had  been  over- 
thrown. 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  191 

John  Milton,  1G08-1(>74 

We  have  seeu  in  the  16th  ceuturv,  how  weighty 
contributions  to  j)edagogi- 
cal  hterature  we  owe  to 
English  teacliers  like 
Ascham  and  Mulcaster. 
In  the  17th  century  Eng- 
land can  point  with  prido, 
not  merely  to  the  powerful 
though  indirect  influence 
on  education  of  Sir  Fran- 

•      -n  1      J.      1        A  J.  JOHN  MILTON,  1608-1674 

CIS  liacon,  but  also  to  note- 
worthy thoughts    on  education    from    her   greatest 
poet,  and  from   one  of  her  most  renowned  philoso- 
phers, Milton  and  Locke. 

John  Milton,  best  known  for  the  past  two  centuries 
as  a  great  jjoet,  was  chiefly  distinguished  in  his  own 
time  for  the  vastness,  variety,  and  elegance  of  his 
scholarship,  for  his  vigor  and  ferocity  in  politico- 
theological  controversy,  and  for  the  austerity  of 
his  republican  principles.  He  is  of  interest  to  us 
here  only  as  a  skilful  and  successful  schoolmaster, 
and  as  the  author  of  a  brief  but  significant  treatise 
on  education.  The  story  of  his  life  belongs  to  liter- 
ary history,  and  has  been  told  by  Dr.  Johnson  in 
his  "  Lives  of  the  Poets,"  with  that  bitterness  of 
personal  prejudice  from  which  that  remarkable  man 
could  never  wholly  abstain  when  occasion  offered, 
and  for    which,  to  this    staunch  royalist  and  high 


192  TPIE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

churclimau,  the  career  of  Miltou  presented  abund- 
ant opportunit3^  Hence  Johnson  cannot  refrain 
from  "some  degree  of  merriment"  on  the  poet's 
career  as  a  master  of  a  boys'  boarding  school,  which 
however,  with  an  air  of  magnanimity,  he  conceded 
that  "  no  wise  man  will  consider  as  in  itself  dis- 
graceful ;  "  yet  he  contrasts  satirically  his  ardor  in 
hastening  home  from  his  travels  when  he  heard  that 
England  was  on  the  verge  of  a  civil  war,  with  the 
peaceful  and  humble  employment  in  which  he  at 
once  engaged.  It  is  not  wholly  impossible  that  the 
poet  who  penned  in  one  of  his  sonnets  the  noble 

line, 

"  He  also  serves  who  only  stands  and  waits," 

may  have  seen  that  the  most  effective  way  in  which 
he  could  serve  his  native  land  in  her  trouble  was  by 
aiding  to  train  her  youth  for  a  better  destiny. 

Johnson  writes,  "  It  is  said  that  in  the  art  of  edu- 
cation he  performed  wonders,  and  a  formidable  list 
is  given  of  the  authors,  Greek  and  Latin,  that  were 
read  in  his  school  by  youth  between  ten  and  fifteen 
or  sixteen ; "  but  he  expresses  his  incredulity  in 
these  words  :  "  Those  who  tell  or  receive  these  stories 
should  consider  that  nobody  can  be  taught  faster 
than  he  can  learn.  The  speed  of  the  horseman  is 
limited  by  the  power  of  the  horse.  Every  man  that 
has  ever  undertaken  to  instruct  others,  can  tell  what 
slow  advances  he  has  been  able  to  make,  and  how 
much  patience  it  requires  to  recall  vagrant  inatten- 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  193 

tion,  to  stimulate  sluggish  indifFerciicc,  and  to  rectify 
absurd  niisapprehension."  The  worthy  doctor  here 
speaks  doubtless  from  a  bitter  recollection  of  his  own 
unha2)py  experience  as  a  schoolmaster. 

It  was  during  the  years  that  he  devoted  to  teach- 
ing and  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  that -he  wrote  the 
little  essay  on  education  with  which  this  sketch  has 
to  deal.  At  a  later  period  of  his  life,  after  he  had 
held  considerable  j)ublic  employments,  and  while 
engaged  in  writing  Paradise  Lost,  he  showed  his 
passion  for  his  former  vocation  by  writing  an  ele- 
mentary Latin  method,  descending,  as  Johnson 
pompously  says,  "  from  his  elevation  to  rescue  chil- 
dren from  the  perplexities  of  grammatical  confusion, 
and  the  trouble  of  lessons  unnecessarily  repeated." 

In  his  tractate  on  education,  which  is  in  the  form 
of  a  letter  to  Samuel  Hartlib,  a  learned  Polish-Prus- 
sian merchant  then  residing  in  England  and  a 
friend  of  Comenius,  the  great  poet  declares  that  he 
has  thought  much  and  long  on  a  reform  of  educa- 
tion as  a  matter  of  quite  vital  moment.  In  his 
view,  the  aim  of  education  is  "to  regain  to  know 
God  aright."  "  But  because  our  understanding  can- 
not, in  this  body,  found  itself  but  upon  sensible 
things,  nor  arrive  so  clearly  to  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  things  invisible,  as  by  orderly  conning  on 
the  visible  and  inferior  creature,  the  same  method  is 
necessarily  to  be  followed  in  all  discreet  teaching." 

This  sentence  condenses  in  itself  a  whole  chapter 


194  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

of  pedagogic  i)sychology  ;  and  both  in  this  and  the 
entire  spirit  of  his  treatise,  Milton  shows  himself  in 
entire  accord  with  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Mon- 
taigne and  Comenius,  alluding  indeed  to  the  Didac- 
tica  and  the  Janua  as  books  with  which  he  is 
acquainted. "  Like  them  he  emphasizes  the  need  of 
basing  the  work  of  education  on  knowledge  of  sen- 
sible things,  and  insists  upon  exact  and  orderly- 
observation  of  external  things  as  "the  method 
necessarily  to  be  followed  in  all  discreet  teaching." 
Like  them,  he  lays  great  stress  on  experience  and  on 
immediate  application  of  what  has  been  learned. 
His  ideas,  too,  like  theirs,  as  to  the  subject-matter  of 
education,  are  what  many  in  these  days  are  apt  to 
stigmatize  as  utilitarian,  as  though  things  useful  to 
be  known  should  on  that  account  be  regarded  with 
suspicion  as  pabulum  for  the  youthful  intelligence. 
He  differs  widely  from  them  in  some  points  ;  and 
wherein  they  differ,  his  scheme  is  doubtless  less 
practicable  than  that  of  Comenius  ;  or,  as  he  says 
himself,  "  I  believe  that  this  is  not  a  bow  for  every 
man  to  shoot  in  that  counts  himself  a  teacher,  but 
will  require  sinews  almost  equal  to  those  which 
Homer  gave  Ulysses."  Yet  these  illustrious  men, 
amid  their  differences  in  plans  for  accomplishing 
their  common  objects,  have  still  the  same  great 
objects  in  view,  viz.,  so  to  reform  education  as  to 
restore  sense-activity  and  experience  to  their  proper 
and  fundamental  place  in  instraction,  to  cultivate 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  195 

the  understanding  more  while  cramming  memory 
less,  and  to  confine  the  subjects  of  instruction  closely 
to  those  matters  which  will  best  fit  the  future  man  to 
perform  well  his  duties  as  a  citizen  and  a  Christian. 

Milton's  definition  of  education  is  justly  famous 
for  its  force  and  elegance  of  expression :  "I  call 
therefore  a  complete  and  generous  education,  that 
which  fits  a  man  to  perform  justly,  skilfully,  and 
magnanimously  all  the  offices,  both  private  and 
public,  of  peace  and  war."  As  a  prelude  to  this, 
he  arraigns  "  the  usual  method  of  teaching  arts  as 
an  old  error  of  the  universities,  not  yet  well  recovered 
from  the  scholastic  grossness  of  barbarous  ages,  that 
instead  of  beginning  with  arts  most  easy, — and 
those  be  such  as  are  most  obvious  to  the  sense, — they 
present  their  young  novices  at  first  coming  with  the 
most  intellective  abstractions  of  logic  and  meta- 
physics," so  that  "for  the  most  part  they  grow  into 
hatred  and  contempt  of  learning." 

To  this  perverted  teaching,  Milton  attributes  the 
fact  that  when  young  men  so  bred  enter  on  life, 
some  betake  themselves  "to  an  ambitious  and  mer- 
cenary or  iguorantly  zealous  divinity  ;  "  some  are 
"  allured  to  the  trade  of  law  "  with  no  higher  aim 
than  "fat  contentions  and  flowing  fees  ;"  others 
engage  in  "state  affkirs  with  souls  so  unprincii:>led 
in  virtue  and  true  generous  breeding,  that  flattery 
and  court  shifts,  and  tyrannous  aphorisms  appear 
to  them  the  highest  points  of  wisdom  ;  "  and  still 


196  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

others  are  content  to  lead  a  life  of  mere  luxury  and 
sensuous  enjoyment.  The  scheme  of  education, 
then,  that  he  would  arrange  was  intended  to  rescue 
youth  from  careers  so  mean  and  inglorious,  and  to 
put  them  upon  the  attainment  of  the  lofty  ends  that 
he  proposes  in  his  definition,  by  a  way  laborious 
indeed,  yet  withal  so  alluring  that  he  believes  there 
would  be  more  difficulty  in  driving  from  it  the 
dullest  and  most  indolent,  "than  we  now  have  to 
hale  and  drag  our  choicest  and  hopefullest  wits  to 
that  asinine  feast  of  sow  thistles  and  brambles  which 
is  commonly  set  before  them." 

Milton  concedes  the  necessity  of  learning  lan- 
guages, because  the  knowledge  and  experience  of 
individual  nations  is  incomplete,  yet  he  insists  that 
"language  is  but  the  instrument  conveying  to  us 
things  useful  to  be  known."  Hence  he  blames  the 
schools  for  wasting  seven  or  eight  years  "  in  scrap- 
ing together  so  much  miserable  Latin  and  Greek  as 
might  be  learned  easily  and  delightfully  in  one 
year."  This  loss  of  time  he  attributes  partly  to  too 
frequent  vacations,  but  mostly  to  a  "  preposterous 
exaction,  forcing  the  empty  wits  of  children  to  com- 
pose verses,  themes,  and  orations  which  are  the  acts 
of  ripest  judgment  and  the  final  work  of  a  head 
filled  by  long  reading  and  observing  with  elegant 
maxims  and  copious  invention."  The  practice 
which  he  denounces  as  preposterous  has,  however, 
proved  very  tenacious  of  life,  continuing  far  into  the 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  REFORMERS     197 

present  century,  and  being  by  no  means  extinct  in 
the  native  land  of  Milton.  Having  therefore  no 
opinion  of  tlio  value  of  the  ancient  languages  as  a 
mental  gymnastic,  he  would  have  them  learned  by 
the  most  compendious  means  possible,  with  only  the 
most  essential  parts  of  grammar  thoroughly  practised 
in  some  good  short  book,  that  they  might  quickly 
be  used  as  a  medium  through  which  "  to  learn  the 
substance  of  good  things  and  arts  in  due  order." 

Between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  twenty-one,  Mil- 
ton expects  boys  to  master  all  good  authors  in  Latin 
and  Greek,  together  with  Hebrew  for  purposes  of 
scripture  study,  whereto  he  thinks,  "  it  would  be  no 
impossibility  to  add  the  Chaldee  and  the  Syrian 
dialect,"  with  the  Italian,  as  he  naively  adds,  at  any 
odd  hours.  This  however  is  only  language  as  a 
means  of  conveying  to  the  boys  things  useful  to  be 
known.  Through  these  his  boys  are  to  master  "the 
rules  of  arithmetic,  and  soon  after  the  elements  of 
geometry  even  playing  as  the  old  manner  was ; " 
likewise  geography  and  astronomy,  the  easy  grounds 
of  religion  and  scripture  history,  agriculture  from 
classical  authors,  "  that  they  may  improve  the  tillage 
of  their  country,"  natural  history  from  the  same 
sources,  trigonometry  with  its  applications  in  en- 
gineering and  navigation,  the  elements  of  medicine, 
the  essentials  of  rhetoric,  logic,  ethics,  and  poetry, 
and  also  politics  that  they  may  "  know  the  begin- 
ning, end,  and  reasons  of  political  societies." 


198         THE    HISTORY   OP   MODERN    EDUCATION 

After  this  the  boy  is  to  dive  into  the  grounds  of 
law  from  Moses  and  Lycurgus  and  Justinian  "  down 
to  the  Saxon  and  common  laws  of  England  and 
the  statutes."  "  These,"  he  says,  "  are  the  studies 
wherein  our  noble  and  our  gentle  youth  ought  to 
bestow  their  time  in  a  disciplinary  way  from  twelve 
to  one  and  twenty," — at  convenient  times  for  mem- 
ory's sake  reviewing  and  systematizing  all,  ''  until 
they  have  confirmed  and  solidly  united  the  whole 
body  of  their  perfected  knowledge  like  the  last 
embattling  of  a  Roman  legion."  The  relationship 
of  this  scheme  of  studies  with  the  pansophic  ideas 
of  Comenius,  is  somewhat  striking. 

We  may  well  pause  here  to  inquire  with  Milton, 
"  what  exercises  and  recreations  may  best  agree  with 
and  become  these  studies  ;  "  for  young  fellows  fed  on 
so  full  and  sturdy  an  intellectual  diet  would  be  quite 
sure  to  need  exercise.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  before 
their  noontide  meal,  the  recreations  are  to  be  of  a 
martial  character,  a  training  in  the  use  of  all  kinds 
of  weapons  and  in  wrestling,  "as  need  may  be  often 
in  fight  to  tug  or  grapple  and  to  close."  Then 
whilst  resting  before  meat,  their  spirits  are  to  be 
composed  by  "the  solemn  and  divine  harmonies  of 
music,"  to  which,  like  Plato  and  Aristotle,  he 
ascribes  "  a  great  power  over  dispositions  and  man- 
ners." Then  again  about  two  hours  before  supper, 
the  boys  are  to  be  summoned  to  warlike  evolutions, 
first  on  foot,  then,  as  age  permits,  on  horseback,  and 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  199 

finally  iu  "  all  the  helps    of  ancient  and    modern 
stratagems,  tactics,  and  warlike  maxims." 

He  expects  from  this  that  boys  will  go  from  his 
school  fitted  to  command  armies  with  more  than 
usual  credit,  as  the  result  of  those  physical  exercises 
by  which  their  bodies  are  enabled  to  endure  the 
Herculean  labors  which  his  required  studies  impose. 
Besides  these  regular  exercises  in  the  school,  he  pro- 
vides for  the  older  boys  another  recreation,  in  which, 
ever  thrifty  in  the  use  of  time,  he  proposes  to  com- 
bine long  excursions  on  horseback  in  the  spring 
with  a  pleasant  mode  of  gaining  knowledge  of  their 
own  country  and  its  resources,  by  "observing  all 
places  of  strength,  all  commodities  of  building  and 
of  soil  for  towns  and  tillage,  harbors  and  ports  of 
trade,"  and  with  these,  some  idea  of  naval  affairs, 
"of  sailing  and  of  sea  fights." 

Finally  when  his  admirable  Crichton  shall  have 
gained  all  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  virtue,  as  well 
from  observation  and  experience  as  from  converse 
through  books  with  all  that  has  been  worthily  said 
or  done  by  great  men  in  ages  past,  Milton  permits 
him  at  the  age  of  three  or  four  and  twenty  to  see 
other  countries,  "not  to  learn  principles,  but  to  en- 
large experience,  and  make  wise  observations."  It 
will  be  seen  therefore  that  while  Milton  agrees  with 
Montaigne  in  thinking  foreign  travel  beneficial,  he 
diff'ers  from  him  both  as  to  its  time,  and  the  pur- 
pose that  it  should  subserve.     Montaigne  would  liave 


200  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUf'ATIOX 

the  boy  visit  foreign  lands  while  young  and  with  a 
judicious  tutor,  that  he  may  learn  their  languages 
by  use,  become  acquainted  with  their  -manners  and 
modes  of  life  that  he  may  be  thus  guarded  against 
narrow  and  provincial  ideas  and  modes  of  judging, 
and  learn  their  history  on  the  spot,  with  what  he 
values  more,  the  ability  to  judge  of  histories. 

As  to  the  methods  l)y  which  Milton  hopes  to  achieve 
the  large  results  tliat  he  expects,  it  will  already  have 
been  seen  that  tliey  contemplate  a  thorough  use  of 
the  senses,  a  guiding  of  the  youth  in  all  possible 
cases  to  personal  experience  and  to  immediate  appli- 
cation in  right  ways  of  what  he  has  learned,  and 
the  combination  of  all  that  has  been  learned,  by  a 
right  use  of  the  understanding,  into  such  a  syste- 
matized body  of  doctrine  as  may  justly  be  termed 
wisdom. 

For  the  motive  power  that  shall  prompt  boys  to 
undertake  and  continue  such  labors,  he  looks  chiefly 
to  the  example  of  teachers,  which  "  might  in  a  short 
space  gain  them  to  an  incredible  diligence  and  cour- 
age, infusing  into  their  young  breasts  an  ingenuous 
and  noble  ardor."  He  expects  much  also  from 
"  such  lectures  and  explanations  upon  every  oppor- 
tunity as  may  lead  and  draw  them  in  willing  obedi- 
ence, inflamed  with  a  study  of  learning  and  the 
admiration  of  virtue,  so  stirred  up  with  high  hopes 
of  living  to  be  brave  men  and  worthy  patriots,  dear 
to    God    and    famous   to   all    ages,  that   they   may 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  REFORMERS     201 

despise  aud  scorn  all  their  childish  and  ill-taught 
qualities  to  delight  in  manly  and  liberal  exercises." 

Now  as  regards  tlie  motives  on  which  Milton 
relies,  love  of  knowledge,  and  a  high-toned  ambition 
to  excel,  though  they  are  of  the  most  enduring 
influence  when  once  thoroughly  roused,  it  may  be 
doubted  by  some  teachers  whether  they  are  not 
directed  to  ends  somewhat  too  remote  to  be  influen- 
tial with  the  ordinary  run  of  boys  in  a  considerable 
school.  Doubtless,  by  good  precepts,  effectivel}^  ex- 
pressed, given  on  aptl}^  chosen  occasions,  not  weak- 
ened by  too  frequent  repetition,  and  best  of  all, 
enforced  and  illustrated  by  the  consistent  example 
of  respected  teachers,  such  high  motives  may  be 
awakened  and  ke})t  active  in  the  more  finely  en- 
dowed boys,  prompting  them  "to  scorn  delights  and 
live  laborious  days  ;  "  and  thus  a  powerful  public 
sentiment  may  be  fostered  in  a  school  which  will 
stir  even  the  coarser  and  ruder  natures.  Hence  if 
Milton's  ideas  in  this  regard  bear  the  same  heroic 
stamp  as  his  scheme  of  studies,  they  are  none  the 
less  worthy  of  the  most  attentive  consideration  of 
all  conscientious  teachers  who  are  intent  to  educate 
as  well  as  to  instruct,  and  to  educate  by  instructing. 

It  remains  only  to  be  said  that  Milton's  so  com- 
prehensive and  useful  scheme  of  studies,  proposed 
for  so  lofty  aims,  and  inspired  by  such  liigh  motives, 
was  intended  to  l)e  carried  out  in  schools,  each  for 
one  hundred  and  thirty  boys,  who  were  to  bo  lodged 


202 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


in  fair  houses  enclosed  in  spacious  grounds ;  and 
that  it  was  meant  to  supersede  both  the  Enghsli 
pubhc  schools  and  the  universities,  for  whose 
"asinine  feast  of  sow  thistles  and  brambles"  he 
expresses  so  hearty  a  contempt. 

In  the  great  lines  on  which  he  would  carry  out 
the  reforms  which  he  thinks  needful  in  the  schools, 
he  is  obviously  in  full  sympathy  with  the  leading 
principles  of  the  educational  Reformers  ;  whilst  by 
tiie  demands  that  he  makes  on  the  personality  of  the 
teacher,  both  as  example  and  as  guide  in  the  strenu- 
ous exertion  of  every  power,  he  dignifies  his  calling 
to  a  degree  which  has  come  to  be  generally  admitted 
only  in  much  more  recent  times. 

John  Locke,  1632-1704 

John  Locke,  long  celebrated  as  a  philosopher,  has 
an  especial  claim  on  the  at- 
tention of  the  student  of 
education,  because  of  the 
wide  influence  he  has  ex- 
erted on  educational  history 
through  his  " Thoughts 
Concerning  Education", 
and  in  a  much  smaller  de- 
gree, by  his  essay  on  Studies. 
Curiously  enough,  his  ideas 
have  been  much  less  influential  among  his  own 
countrymen  than  on  the  continent  of  Europe.     Until 


JOHN  LOCKE,  1632-1704 


SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY    REFORMERS  203 

a  comparatively  recent  period,  the  typical  English 
schoolmaster  has  shown  little  interest  in  educational 
theories  and  problems,  so  that  Locke's  ideas  on 
education  were  long  better  known  in  France  and 
Germany  than  in  England.  In  France,  especially, 
he  inspired  Rousseau  with  nearly  every  valuable 
thought  which  appears  in  the  brilliant  pages  of  his 
Emile.  He  seems  himself  to  have  derived  some  of 
his  most  characteristic  ideas  from  Montaigne  and 
possibly  also  from  Rabelais,  as  will  be  apparent  in 
the  analytic  examination  of  his  chief  educational 
work. 

He  brought  to  his  task  a  pedagogic  experience 
gained,  not  like  that  of  Milton  in  the  management 
of  a  considerable  number  of  boys,  nor  like  that  of 
Comenius  in  the  organization  and  direction  of  schools 
and  in  tlie  preparation  of  manuals  for  youth,  but  in 
the  direction  of  the  education  of  a  few  high-born 
boys,  and  in  wise  and  friendly  counsels  given  to 
people  of  distinction  who  sought  his  advice  in  the 
training  of  their  sons.  Possibly  from  this  circum- 
stance he,  like  IMontaigne,  favors  private  education 
and  consequently  neglects  that  of  the  j)eople  ;  like- 
wise liis  six  years  at  Westminster  had  given  him  a 
low  opinion  of  the  only  kind  of  public  school  then 
common.  He  believed  also,  to  use  his  own  words, 
that  "that  most  to  be  taken  care  of  is  the  gentle- 
man's calling  ;  for  if  those  of  that  rank  are  by  their 
education  once  set  right,  they  will  quickly  bring  all 


204  THE    HISTORY    OF     ^TODERN    EDUCATION 

the  rest  into  order."  It  need  hardly  be  shown  how 
inferior  is  this  conception  of  the  sphere  of  education 
to  that  of  Luther  and  Comenius,  both  of  whom 
beheve  that  to  all  youth  should  be  given  an  educa- 
tion befitting  their  destiny  as  human  beings,  instead 
of  leaving  their  improvement  to  the  chance  of 
influences  that  might  be  vouchsafed  to  them  from 
above. 

Moreover  the  wise  foresight  of  these  men  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  narrower  views  of  Locke,  is 
being  continually  emphasized  by  all  the  movements 
of  modern  civilization. 

Still  Locke's  preference  for  private  and  individual 
education  was  entirely  in  harmony  with  his  belief 
in  the  decisive  effects  of  early  training  in  shaping 
the  character  and  destiny  of  men.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  his  "  Thoughts,"  he  says,  "  Of  all  the  men 
we  meet  with,  nine  parts  of  ten  are  what  they  are, 
good  or  evil,  useful  or  not,  by  their  education.  'Tis 
that  which  makes  the  great  difference  in  mankind. 
The  little  or  almost  insensible  impressions  on  our 
tender  infancies  have  very  important  and  lasting 
consequences  ;  and  there  'tis  as  in  the  fountains  of 
some  rivers,  where  a  gentle  application  of  the  hand 
turns  the  flexible  waters  in  channels  that  make 
them  take  quite  contrary  courses,  and  by  this  direc- 
tion given  them  at  first  in  the  source,  they  receive 
different  tendencies,  and  arrive  at  last  at  very  remote 
and  distant  places."     Now  no  one  can  fairly  ques- 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  205 

tiou  the  great  and  far-reaching  effects  on  the  char- 
acter of  the  child  due  to  his  early  experiences  ;  and 
if  one  fully  believed  that  so  large  a  part  as  nine- 
tenths  of  what  men  are  is  due  to  these  early  exj^jcri- 
ences,  and  so  little  as  one-tenth  to  innate  or  inherited 
dispositions  and  tendencies,  and  believed  besides,  as 
Locke  apparently  assumes,  that  these  influential 
experiences  can  be  satisfactorily  controlled  by  a 
jjrivate  education,  the  argument  for  such  education 
would  be  very  strong. 

Yet  its  strength  is  rather  apparent  than  real ;  for, 
setting  aside  the  important  fact  that  such  separate 
education  would  be  attainable  only  by  those  who 
are  favored  by  fortune,  and  who  can  find  paragons 
for  tutors,  the  general  experience  of  mankind  has 
shown  that  native  tendencies  play  a  much  larger 
part  in  shaping  men's  characters  than  Locke  admits 
in  the  passage  that  has  been  quoted.  Indeed,  in 
§  6G  of  the  same  work,  he  forgets  consistency,  and 
refutes  his  earlier  over-statement,  by  saying  :  "  God 
has  stamped  certain  characters  on  men's  minds 
which  like  their  shapes  may  perhaps  be  a  little 
mended,  but  can  hardly  be  totally  altered  and  trans- 
formed into  the  contrary. — For  in  many  cases  all 
that  we  can  do  or  should  aim  at,  is  to  make  the  best 
of  what  nature  has  given,  to  prevent  the  vices  and 
faults  to  which  such  a  constitution  is  most  inclined, 
and  give  it  all  the  advantages  it  is  capable  of." 

But  besides  this  stubborn   fact  of  innate  disposi- 


206  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

tions,  which  causes  the  best  education  to  expend 
unavaiHngly  a  portion  of  its  force,  we  should  not 
lose  sight  of  another  fact  quite  as  stubborn,  which 
is  that  not  even  the  wisest  man  can  wholly  control  or 
even  foresee  the  experience  that  may  be  decisive  in 
shaping  the  infinitely  variable  tendencies  of  the 
young.  The  acute  Rousseau  saw  this  difficulty,  and 
to  avoid  it  he  proposed  to  isolate  his  Emile  from  all 
human  companionship  save  that  of  his  tutor ;  but 
whilst  he  would  strive  thus  to  eliminate  the  dangers 
that  spring  from  the  strong  social  instincts  of  human 
beings, — one  of  the  most  influential  factors  in  shap- 
ing character, — he  ignores  the  fact  that  man  can  be 
fitted  for  his  proper  sphere  of  activity  in  human 
society,  only  by  early  and  habitual  intercourse  with 
his  fellows.  From  this  intercourse,  it  is  true  that 
he  runs  a  risk  of  being  led  astray :  without  it,  it  is 
well-nigh  sure  that  he  will  be  less  than  a  normal 
man.  Hence,  despite  the  weighty  opinion  of  Locke, 
we  may  feel  reasonably  sure  that  our  usual  mode  of 
educating  youth  in  the  society  of  their  fellows,  not- 
withstanding its  seeming  risks,  not  merely  is  the 
only  practicable  one,  but  is  also  to  be  preferred  on 
theoretical  grounds  to  a  private  education;  even 
could  paragons  be  always  found  for  tutors. 

Montaigne,  it  will  be  remembered,  lays  great  stress 
on  the  choice  of  a  tutor,  whom  he  would  wish  to  be 
a  man  "  with  a  strong  and  well-balanced  head  rather 
than  with  a  very  full  one,"  furnished    with   good 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  207 

manners    and  a  sound  understanding  rather  than 
with  mere  book  knowledge.     Locke  emphasizes  the 
character  and  quahfications  of  the  tutor  even  more 
strongly  than  Montaigne  had  done.     Indeed,  after 
his  somewhat  discursive  fashion,  he  recurs  to  this 
subject  again  and  again,  and  in  the  most  various 
connections  ;  so  that  to  make  out  the  qualities  which 
his  ideal  tutor  must  possess,  we  are  obliged  to  refer 
often  to  quite  widely-separated  sections  of  his  work. 
Of  his  character,  he  says  :  "  I  think  this  province 
requires  great  sobriety,  temperance,  tenderness,  dili- 
gence, and  discretion,  qualities  hardly  to  be  found 
united  in  persons  that  are  to  be  had  for  ordinary 
salaries,  nor  easily  to  be  found  anywhere."     Then 
too  he  must  be  thoroughly  well-bred,  for  "  to  form  a 
young  gentleman,  as  he  should,  it  is  fit  his  governor 
should  himself  be  well-bred,  understand  the  ways  of 
carriage  and  measures  of  civility  in  all  the  variety  of 
persons,  times,   and  places,  and  keep  his  pupil,  as 
much  as  his  age  requires,  constantly  to  the  observa- 
tion of  them."     "  Besides  being  well-bred,  the  tutor 
should  know  the  ways  of  the  world  well ;  the  ways, 
the  humors,  the  follies,  the  cheats,  the  ftiults  of  the 
age  he  is  fallen  into,  and  particularly  of  the  coun- 
try he  lives  in,"  that  he  may  be  able  to  teach  his 
pupil  to  steer  his  course  prudently  and  safely  through 
the   devious    paths  of  a  deceitful  and   self-seeking 
world. 

In  his  instruction,  "  his  great  skill  is  to  get  and 


208  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

keep  the  attention  of  his  scholar,  making  him  com- 
prehend the  usefulness  of  what  he  teaches  and  the 
added  power  he  thus  gets,  and  making  the  child 
sensible  that  he  loves  him  and  desires  his  good." 
Finally  he  "should  be  one  who  thinks  Latin  and 
language  the  least  part  of  education  ;  one  who,  know- 
ing how  much  virtue  and  a  well-tempered  soul  is  to 
be  preferred  to  any  sort  of  learning  or  language, 
makes  it  his  chief  business  to  form  the  mind  of  his 
scholar  and  give  it  a  right  disposition  ;  "  and  who, 
to  that  end,  "  should  have  something  more  in  him 
than  Latin,  more  than  even  a  knowledge  in  the 
liberal  sciences ;  he  should  be  a  person  of  eminent 
virtue  and  prudence,  and  with  good  sense,  have 
good  humor  and  the  skill  to  carry  himself  with 
gravity,  ease,  and  kindness  in  a  constant  conversa- 
tion with  his  pupil." 

From  this  description  of  the  tutor,  which  has  been 
pieced  together  from  passages  scattered  here  and 
there  as  his  mode  of  treatment  called  for  them,  it 
may  be  seen  that  Locke  has  a  lofty  ideal  of  the 
teacher  and  of  his  work.  He  is  to  be  gifted  with 
the  finest  of  human  qualities,  and  in  their  combina- 
tion, the  rarest ;  these  are  to  be  adorned  by  perfect 
good-breeding,  and  their  usefulness  enhanced  by  a 
consummate  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  men ; 
with  a  sufficient  literary  and  scientific  knowledge,  he 
must  combine  a  clear  conception  of  the  aims  towards 
which  all   his  educational    efforts   should   steadily 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY  REFORMERS     209 

tend  ;  and  with  all  liis  gifts  and  acquirements,  he 
must  above  all  be  endowed  with  that  rare  tact  and 
power  of  influence  which  alone  can  make  all  these 
effective.  It  may  be  said  without  reservation  that 
the  teacher  of  any  age  or  country  may  safely  make 
Locke's  ideal  tutor  his  model. 

Bred  a  physician,  and  afflicted  during  his  entire 
life  by  feeble  health,  of  which  however  he  took  such 
prudent  care  as  to  reach  the  age  of  seventy-two, 
Locke  was  naturally  led  to  treat  with  more  than 
usual  fulness  of  the  early  physical  training  and  care 
of  children,  insomuch  that  some  writers  on  education 
consider  it  the  chief  merit  of  the  "  Thoughts  "  that 
so  great  stress  is  laid  on  physical  education.  Still 
we  may  witliout  loss  give  this  portion  of  his  work  a 
somewhat  cursory  attention,  especially  as  the  author 
has  given  an  admirable  condensation  of  his  views, 
as  follows  :  "  What  concerns  the  body  and  health, 
reduces  itself  to  these  few  and  easily  observable 
rules :  plenty  of  open  air,  exercise,  and  sleep,  plain 
diet,  no  wine  or  strong  drink,  and  very  little  or  no 
pliysic,  not  too  warm  and  strait  clothing,  especial- 
ly the  head  and  feet  kept  cold,  and  the  feet  often 
used  to  cold  water  and  exposed  to  wet."  Of  these 
rules,  probably  none  would  now  be  objected  to  save 
the  one  to  keep  the  feet  cold  and  exposed  to  wet, 
and  the  method  by  which  Locke  would  secure  it,  by 
having  children  wear  thin  and  leaky  shoes. 

His  remarks  on  diet  are  excellent ;  yet  it  seems 


210  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

strange  to  modern  ideas,  that  while  admitting  most 
rii^e  fruits  into  his  dietary,  he  should  class  peaches 
and  grapes  with  melons  and  most  plums,  as  articles 
to  be  rigidly  excluded.  His  moderate  and  sensible 
advice  to  avoid  all  medicine,  and  physicians  as  well, 
save  in  cases  of  imminent  necessity,  seems  to  have 
given  to  Rousseau  the  hint  on  which,  in  two  pas- 
sages of  his  Emile,  he  writes  a  violent  and  whimsi- 
cal tirade  against  physicians  and  their  art,  a  tirade 
which  it  is  said  he  had  later  the  grace  to  regret,  but 
not  to  correct. 

Coming  now  to  what  in  the  narrower  sense  we 
consider  education,  Locke,  §  134,  states  its  purposes, 
and  what  in  his  view  should  be  their  relative  rank, 
as,  1st,  virtue  ;  2d,  wisdom  ;  3d,  good-breeding  ;  4th 
and  last,  learning.  "  Of  good  breeding,  knowledge 
of  the  world,  virtue,  industry,  and  a  love  of  reputa- 
tion, he  cannot  have  too  much,"  says  Locke  of  his 
pupil,  "  and  if  he  have  these,  he  will  not  long  want 
what  he  needs  or  desires  of  others." 

By  virtue,  he  means  not  only  religion  with  its 
attendant  truthfulness,  founded  on  "a  true  notion 
of  God,"  which,  in  his  view,  "  ought  very  early  to  be 
imprinted  on  the  child's  mind,"  but  also  self-control, 
self-denial  to  which  the  child  is  to  be  early  habitu- 
ated, and  in  general,  "  a  well-tempered  soul,  which 
is  to  be  preferred  to  any  sort  of  learning." 

Wisdom  he  defines,  §  140,  as  a  blending  of  pru- 
dence, foresight,  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  ability 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  211 

in  affairs,  with  an  aversion  to  mere  cunning.  To 
lead  a  child  to  wisdom,  he  beheves  we  must  begin 
by  making  him  averse  to  trickiness  as  in  itself  shallow 
and  contemptible,  and  leading  soon  to  distrust  and 
contempt.  When  this  is  duly  impressed,  he  thinks 
that  "to  accustom  a  child  to  have  true  notions  of 
things  and  not  to  be  satisfied  till  he  has  them,  to 
raise  his  mind  to  great  and  worthy  thoughts,  and  to 
keep  him  at  a  distance  from  falsehood,  and  cunning, 
which  has  always  a  broad  mixture  of  falsehood  in 
it,  is  the  fittest  preparation  of  a  child  for  wisdom." 
The  rest,  which  can  come  only  from  time,  experience, 
and  observation,  can  be  aided  only  by  accustoming 
youth  "to  truth  and  sincerity,  to  a  submission  to 
reason,  and  as  much  as  may  be  to  reflection  on  their 
own  actions." 

In  this  moral  training  of  the  young,  as  in  all  other 
parts  of  their  education,  Locke  strenuously  objects 
to  frequent  resorts  to  the  rod  as  usually  "  a  passion- 
ate tyranny  over  them.. ..putting  their  bodies  in  pain 
without  doing  their  minds  any  good."  In  2:)lace  of 
blows  and  passionate  chidings,  and  even  of  finely 
phrased  precepts  oft  repeated,  he  would  rely,  like 
Aristotle,  on  good  example  and  early  habituation. 
"  Pray  remember,"  he  says,  "  children  are  not  to  be 
taught  (conduct)  by  rules  which  will  be  always 
slipping  out  of  their  memories.  What  you  think 
necessary  for  them  to  do,  settle  in  them  by  ap 
indispensable  practice  as  often  as  the  occasion  returns^ 


212  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

and  if  it  be  possible,  make  occasions.  This  will 
beget  habits  in  them,  which  being  once  established, 
operate  of  themselves  easily  and  naturally  without 
the  assistance  of  memory."  He  sees  also  that  to 
secure  this  moral  habitutation,  so  essential  to  true 
wisdom,  the  child  must  from  the  outset  be  accus- 
tomed to  implicit  obedience  to  rightful  authority. 
Of  this  he  says,  §  36,  "  He  that  is  not  used  to  submit 
his  will  to  the  reason  of  others  when  he  is  young 
will  scarce  hearken  or  submit  to  his  own  reason 
when  he  is  of  an  age  to  make  use  of  it ;  and  what 
kind  of  a  man  such  a  one  is  likely  to  prove  is  easy 
to  foresee." 

On  good  breeding,  Locke  treats  at  considerable 
length,  commenting  wisely  and  wittily  on  the  most 
common  modes  in  which  it  is  violated,  and  empha- 
sizing the  necessity  of  securing  it  by  a  combination 
of  good  example  and  early  and  constant  habituation, 
with  an  inhred  regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of 
others.  His  golden  rule  for  good  breeding  is  "not 
to  think  meanly  of  ourselves,  and  not  to  think 
meanly  of  others." 

Locke  anticipates  the  surprise  likely  to  be  caused 
by  his  placing  learning  last  in  a  treatise  on  educa- 
tion, and  by  his  insisting  that  it  is  the  least  psirt. 
He  justifies  it  in  this  way:  "I  imagine  you  would 
think  him  a  very  foolish  fellow  that  should  not 
value  a  virtuous  or  a  wise  man  infinitely  before  a 
great  scholar.     Not  but  that  I  think  learning  a  great 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  213 

hclj)  to  both  iu  well-disposed  minds  ;  but  yet  it  must 
be  confessed  also  that  in  others  not  so  disposed,  it 
helps  them  only  to  be  the  more  foolish  or  worse 

men Learning   must  be  had,  but  in  the  second 

place,  as  suljservient  only  to  greater  qualities."  His 
order  of  estimation  is  therefore,  first  character,  with 
that  which  may  add  effectiveness  to  character,  and 
afterwards  knowledge, — an  order  which  in  too  many 
cases  tends  to  be  reversed  in  modern  practice. 

He  strikes  the  key  note  of  the  subjects  that  he 
would  have  taught  to  youth  in  a  paragraph  which 
occurs  in  his  discussion  of  the  recreations  in  which 
the  young  should  be  encouraged  to  engage.  "  In 
all  the  parts  of  education,  most  time  and  application 
is  to  be  bestowed  on  that  which  is  like  to  be  of  great- 
est consequence  and  frequentest  use  in  the  ordinary 
course  and  occurrences  of  that  life  the  young  man  is 
destined  for."  With  this  principle  all  parts  of  his 
scheme  of  studies  agree.  Thus  he  lays  great  stress 
on  careful  instruction  in  one's  native  tongue.  Gram- 
mar should  be  learned  "  amongst  the  other  aids  of 
speaking  well,"  but  it  should  be  the  grammar  of  the 
youth's  vernacular,  and  its  study  should  be  limited 
to  those  alone  who  would  take  pains  in  cultivating 
their  style.  Rhetoric  he  holds  in  low  esteem  as  of 
little  use  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  taught,  which 
purpose  he  thinks  may  be  better  attained  by  exercise 
on  familiar  topics  according  to  good  models  ;  and  in 
§  189  he  proposes  a  scheme  for  teaching  composition 


214         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

which  smacks  strongly  of  Quintilian.  Of  logic  as 
the  art  of  reasoning  rightly,  he  thinks  even  more 
lightly  than  of  rhetoric.  "Truth",  he  says,  "is  to 
be  found  and  supported  by  a  mature  and  due  con- 
sideration of  things  themselves,  and  not  by  artificial 
turns  and  ways  of  arguing." 

Latin  he  regards  as  absolutely  necessary  for  a 
gentleman  ;  but  he  would  have  this,  or  any  other 
needful  language,  taught  by  the  briefest  possible 
way,  and  wherever  practicable,  by  speaking  it, 
which  is,  he  says,  "the  true  and  genuine  way,"  an 
idea  in  which  he  agrees  with  Montaigne.  Where 
this  mode  is  impracticable,  he  would  have  Latin 
taught  by  interlinear  translations  of  easy  authors, 
followed  by  easy  books  with  English  translations. 
Thus  Locke  appears  to  be  the  responsible  suggester 
of  the  modern  practice  called  Bohning,  as  also  of 
the  once  famous  "  Hamiltonian  system  "  of  learning 
languages. 

In  the  early  stages  of  language  instruction  he 
thinks  grammar  needs  no  attention  save  what  is 
necessary  to  master  the  inflected  forms.  If  gram- 
mar is  taught  at  all,  it  should  be  to  one  that  can  use 
the  language  already.  "  How  else  can  he  be  taught 
the  grammar  of  it?"  cries  Locke  triumphantly. 
Like  Milton,  he  condemns  the  writing  of  Latin 
themes  and  Latin  verses,  the  latter  however  for  a 
quite  different  reason  from  any  that  Milton  would 
have  urged  :  he  discourages  poetry  as  well  as  versi- 


SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY    REFORMERS  215 

ficatiou  in  any  language,  because,  as  he  })ithily 
expresses  it,  "  Parnassus  is  a  pleasant  air  but  a 
barren  soil." 

Of  other  studies,  ho  would  have  geography  on 
the  globes  early  begun,  and  also  arithmetic  by  daily 
practice  in  reckoning,  to  be  followed  by  astronomy 
according  to  the  Copernican  system.  He  would 
have  chronology  go  hand  in  hand  with  geography, 
that  the  two  may  introduce  to  history  "  wdiich  is  the 

great  mistress  of  prudence  and  civil  knowledge, 

and  is  the  proper  study  of  a  gentleman  or  man  ot 
business."  Law  and  the  constitutional  history  of 
one's  own  country,  he  agrees  with  Milton  in  deem- 
ing indispensable  ;  and  the  enlightened  men  of  all 
countries  seem  to  be  coming  to  a  modified  form  of 
this  opinion.  Geometry  should  be  taught  as  far  as 
the  first  six  books  of  Euclid  ;  and  some  good  short 
history  of  the  Bible  should  precede  physics  as  an 
antidote  to  materialism.. 

Of  natural  philosophy,  however,  he  says  :  "  I  think 
I  have  reason  to  say  we  never  shall  be  able  to  make 
a  science  of  it.  The  works  of  nature  are  contrived 
by  a  wisdom  and  oj^erate  by  ways  too  far  surpassing 
our  faculties  to  discover  or  capacities  to  conceive,  for 
us  ever  to  be  able  to  reduce  them  to  a  science  "  §  190. 
Now  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  since  this 
opinion  was  recorded  by  the  most  sagacious  and 
instructed  philosopher  of  his  age,  this  once  impossible 
science  leads  all  others  in  the  importance  and  bril- 


216  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

liancy  of  its  revelations  ;  and,  not  content  with  ran- 
sacking the  mysteries  of  the  earth,  with  no  irreverent 
hand,  it  assails  the  heavens,  makes  the  liglitning  its 
useful  servant,  and  careers  on  the  wings  of  light  to 
the  remotest  confines  of  the  universe  itself. 

Finally  Locke  follows  Comenius  and  Sir  Wm. 
Petty*  in  advocacy  of  the  training  of  the  hand,  by 
impressing  at  considerable  length  the  importance 
that  every  man  should  learn  some  trade,  and  even 
giving  a  list  of  those  trades  that  he  would  have 
taught,  anticipating  in  this  a  number  of  those  that 
are  proposed  in  our  own  days.  In  this  we  shall  see 
that  Rousseau  copies  him,  and  urges  the  idea  with 
so  much  eloquence  that  the  learning  of  some  trade 
becomes  fashionable  in  France  ;  and  even  the  king, 
the  unhappy  Louis  XVL,  becomes  a  skilful  lock- 
smith. 

It  is  now  easy  to  see  that,  both  in  the  subjects 
chosen  for  instruction,  and  in  the  spirit  with  which 
they  are  presented,  Locke  is  a  pronounced  utilitarian. 
Even  Latin,  now  urged  most  largely  for  disciplinary 
ends,  was  in  his  day  still  indispensable  to  a  gentle- 
man as  a  means  of  gaining  much  useful  knowledge, 
and  in  this  view  he  urges  it.  Both  this  and  the 
methods  he  recommends  rank  him  with  the  most 
thorough-going  reformers.     Thus  he  rejects  all  in- 

*  See  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  XL,  p.  109,  for  Sir 
Wm.  Petty's  plan  of  an  industrial  school,  containing  nearly  all  valuable 
ideas  of  modern  advocates  of  manual  training.    This  plan  dates  from  1647. 


SKVRXTEEXTir    CENTURY    REFORMERS  217 

structiou  tliut  upi)oals  merely  to  memory.  He  insists 
abundantly  on  reaching  the  understanding  and 
reason  6f  the  child,  and  on  assuring  the  knowledge 
of  things  before  words.  He  advises  to  begin  always 
with  what  is  first  and  easiest,  with  what  is  most 
obvious  to  the  senses,  and  to  advance  by  easy  and 
natural  steps  towards  what  we  would  ultimately 
unfold,  making  all  that  is  taught  familiar  and 
habitual  by  practice,  and  aiming  always  to  develop 
the  abilities  which  the  boy  has  at  his  stage  of 
progress. 

All  this  clearly  implies  that  Locke  presupposes  on 
the  i^art  of  the  teacher  a  definite  and  far-reaching 
aim,  and  that  he  believes  teaching  is  something  far 
higher  than  the  presentation  of  a  mere  memorized 
jumble  of  interesting  facts.  A  few  brief  quotations 
will  give  his  more  important  ideas  in  his  own  words. 
§  180,  "  In  this  as  in  all  other  parts  of  instruction, 
great  care  must  be  taken  with  children  to  begin  with 
that  which  is  plain  and  simple,  and  to  teach  them 
as  little  as  can  be  at  once,  and  settle  that  well  in 
their  heads  before  you  proceed  to  the  next  or  any- 
thing new  in  that  science.  Give  them  first  one 
simple  idea,  and  see  they  take  it  right,  and  perfectly 
comprehend  it,  before  you  go  any  further  ;  and  then 
add  some  other  simple  idea  wdiicli  lies  next  in  your 
way  to  what  you  aim  at ;  and  so,  proceeding  by 
gentle  and  insensible  steps,  children  will  have  their 
understandings  opened,  and  their  thoughts  extended 


2lS  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

farther  than  could  liave  been  expected."  §  195, 
"  In  history  the  order  of  time  should  govern,  in 
philosophic  inquiries  that  of  nature,  which  in  all 
progression  is  to  go  from  the  place  one  is  then  in  to 
that  which  joins  and  lies  next  to  it ;  and  so  it  is  in 
the  mind,  from  the  knowledge  it  stands  possessed  of 
already  to  that  which  lies  next  and  is  coherent  to  it, 
and  so  on  to  what  it  aims  at  by  the  simplest  and 
most  uncompounded  parts  it  can  divide  the  matter 
into."  The  principles  of  naturalness  in  order,  and 
clearness  and  progression  in  instruction  could  not 
well  be  stated  more  succinctly  than  in  these  jDassages 
from  Locke. 

No  one  has  recognized  more  sharply  than  he  the 
necessity  for  success  in  instruction,  of  holding  the 
mind  free  from  the  agitation  of  any  passion  and 
especially  of  fear.  "  It  is  as  impossible,"  he  says, 
"  to  draw  fair  and  regular  characters  on  a  trembling 
mind  as  on  a  shaking  paper."  Like  most  of  the 
Reformers,  he  cherishes  the  idea  of  teaching  all 
things  in  a  kind  of  play,  an  idea  which  it  is  easy  to 
recognize  as  a  revolt  against  the  dull  and  joyless 
routine  that  had  long  passed  for  instruction,  and 
which  conceives  as  play  the  pleasureable  activity  of 
youth  whose  powers  are  enlisted  in  some  study  that 
they  are  brought  to  love. 

This  review  of  Locke  cannot  be  closed  more  appro- 
priately than  l\y  a  quotation  from  himself,  which 
happily  sums  up  liis  aim.     "  The  great  work  of  a 


SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY   REEORMERS  210 

governor  is  to  fashion  the  carriage  and  form  the 
mind  ;  to  settle  in  his  iuipil  good  habits  and  the 
principles  of  virtue  and  wisdom  ;  to  give  him  by 
little  and  little  a  view  of  mankind,  and  work  hiin 
into  a  love  and  imitation  of  what  is  excellent  and 
praiseworthy  ;  and,  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  to  give 
him  vigor  and  industry.  The  studies  which  he  sets 
him  upon,  are  but,  as  it  were,  the  exercises  of  his 
faculties  and  employment  of  his  time,  to  keep  him 
from  sauntering  and  idleness,  to  teach  him  applica- 
tion and  accustom  him  to  take  pains,  and  to  give  him 
some  little  taste  of  what  his  own  industry  must  per- 
fect." The  last  sentence  certainly  lacks  little  of 
being  a  purely  disciplinary  view  of  the  office  of 
studies. 

It  may  on  the  whole  be  doubted,  whether,  with  all 
our  modern  advances  in  education,  we  have  yet 
reached  the  full  application  of  the  valuable  pedagogic 
principles  set  forth  by  Locke. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FEMALE  EDUCATION  AND  FENELON 

During  the  entire  middle  ages,  the  education  of 
women  had  been  confined  to  those  of  tlie  higher  or 
wealthier  classes,  and  had  followed  closely  the  course 
indicated  by  the  advice  given  by  St.  Jerome  to  Laeta 
in  the  4th  century, — advice  which  since  his  day  has 
ever  been  influential  v/ith  Catholic  parents  in  matters 
of  female  education.*  St.  Jerome  had  advised  his 
friend  to  care  for  her  daughter's  early  education  her- 
self, making  it  mostly  religious,  and  then  to  send 
her  in  her  girlhood  to  a  convent.  "  Let  her,"  he 
says,  "  be  brought  up  in  the  convent  in  the  company 
of  virgins.  Let  her  learn  never  to  swear,  to  think 
falsehood  a  sacrilege,  be  ignorant  of  the  world,  live 
the  life  of  an  angel,  be  in  the  flesh  but  not  of  it,  and 
believe  every  human  being  to  be  of  tlie  like  nature 
with  herself."  In  accordance  with  this  counsel  of 
St.  Jerome,  the  education  of  mediaeval  maidens  was 
wholly  monastic,  and  predominantly  religious.  They 
were  taught  prayers  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures, 
to  be  reverent  to  God,  obedient  to  parents,  and  sub- 
missive to  their  husbands,  if  so  be  that  they  should 
marry.     Certain  feminine   graces   and  accomplish- 

*  See  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  V.,  p.  594,  for  St. 
Jerome's  advice. 

(220) 


FEMALK  EDUCATION  AND  FENELON      221 

meiita  befitting  their  station  in  life  had  careful  atten- 
tion. They  were  also  taught  feminine  handiwork 
like  fine  sewing  and  embroidery,  and,  more  fre- 
quently than  men  of  the  same  rank,  they  were  able 
to  read  and  write. 

During  the  17th  century,  female  education  in  gen- 
eral retained  the  same  monastic  character,  but  the 
ability  to  read  and  write  had  become  general  among 
the  girls  trained  in  convents.  Their  reading  was, 
however,  almost  entirely  confined  to  books  of  devo- 
tion ;  and  they  were  as  far  as  possible  ke})t  in  igno- 
rance of  the  real  world  until  they  were  ushered  into 
it  by  marriage.  The  too  frequently  disappointing 
results  of  this  conventual  training  were  apparent. 
The  noise  of  the  great  world  of  living,  striving, 
sinning  men  and  women  penetrated  even  the  walls 
of  convents  ;  and  the  vivid  imaginations  of  the  young 
recluses  transformed  its  empty  babblement  into 
voices  of  pleasures,  more  alluring  because  unknown 
and  forbidden,  which  summoned  them  to  enjoyment. 
Into  this  world,  painted  in  the  delusive  colors  of 
fancy,  they  ventured  on  their  release,  ignorant  of  its 
wiles  and  delusions,  eager  rather  for  unwonted  en- 
joyments than  for  a  sober  round  of  duties,  and  too 
often  little  restrained  by  religious  scruples  which 
hung  but  loosely  u})on  them  and  which  they  were 
ready  to  discard  with  their  conventual  garments. 

What  wonder  then  that  these  inexperienced  feet 
sometimes  went  sadly  astray,  that  the  expectations 


222  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

of  parents  and  friends  came  to  nought,  and  that 
young  girls  who  were  thought  to  be  trained  for  pious 
wives  and  discreet  heads  of  families,  became,  in  too 
many  cases,  the  most  frivolous  and  light-minded  of 
trifiers,  without  depth  of  principle  to  preserve  them 
even  from  vice !  What  better  could  be  expected 
from  empty  souls,  ushered  without  experience  into 
glittering  scenes,  and  possessed  within  themselves 
of  no  intellectual  resources,  than  that  they  should 
feed  on  delusions  and  fill  themselves  with  vanities 
and  fancy  these  to  be  life !  The  need  of  a  deeper 
culture  for  girls  had,  therefore,  in  this  age  become 
apparent  to  many,  a  culture  which  should  store  an 
otherwise  unoccupied  mind  with  intellectual  treas- 
ures, in  contrast  with  which  all  that  the  world  has 
to  offer  should  appear  in  its  true  light  and  in  its  just 
proportions,  its  vices  stripped  of  their  glitter,  and  its 
duties,  its  virtues,  and  its  rightful  enjoyments  re- 
vealed as  alone  desirable. 

Thus,  to  omit  Mulcaster,  we  have  seen  that  Comeni- 
us  would  offer  to  girls  up  to  the  age  of  twelve  the  same 
education  as  to  boys,  and  it  is  obvious  how  great  an 
extension  this  would  be  for  girls.  Yet  after  the  age  of 
twelve,  all  his  thought  is  fixed  on  the  higher  training 
of  boys,  leaving  to  girls  no  school  encouragement  for 
the  higher  development  of  their  awakening  powers. 
Indeed  it  has  been  left  to  the  j^resent  century  and  to 
our  own  country  to  throw  open  all  the  avenues  of 
the  higher  learning  to  women,  and  sometimes  in  the 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  223 

same  institutions  with  young  men,  leaving  it  to 
experience  to  determine  wlietlier  there  really  is  that 
sex  difference  in  intellectual  gifts  and  aptitudes 
which  has  so  usually  been  assumed.  This  is  surely 
a  bold  advance  in  the  Americanization  of  learning, 
but  one  whose  results  have  thus  far  justified  its 
boldness. 

With  the  Port  Royalists  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
made  so  great  and  beneficial  changes  in  the  educa- 
tion of  boys,  the  training  of  girls  was  conceived 
wholly  on  a  monastic  ideal,  strict  and  ascetic  in 
character,  directed  rather  to  the  moral  and  religious 
nature  than  to  the  intellectual,  and  adapted  to  fit  its 
subjects  rather  for  future  blessedness  than  for  pres- 
ent usefulness  in  the  duties  which  life  imposes.  The 
great  object  with  the  sisters  of  Port  Royal  was  to 
make  sure  that  their  pupils  should  be  good  from 
princij^le ;  and  there  was  this  marked  difference 
from  most  convents,  that  the  girls  were  neither 
required  nor  encouraged  to  pray  or  to  attend  services, 
save  the  mass,  unless  they  sincerely  desired  to  do  so. 
Thus  they  discouraged  and  made  needless  a  mere 
formal  or  perfunctory  performance  of  religious 
duties ;  but  for  the  needs  of  the  intellect  no  larger 
provision  was  made  than  in  other  convents.  To  be 
able  to  read  and  wTite,  to  read  good  books  of  piety, 
to  learn  a  little  arithmetic  on  feast  days,  to  gain  skill 
in  feminine  handicrafts, — this  was  the  sum  of  tliQ 


224  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

provision  for  intellectual  education  at  the  l*ort  lluyal 
school  for  girls. 

For  a  brief  period  towards  the  close  of  this  century 
Mme.  de  Maintenon,  so  well  known  at  the  court  of 
Louis  XIV.,  in  the  conventual  school  for  the  daugh- 
ters of  impoverished  nol)les  which  she  founded  at 
St.  Cyr,  seems  to  have  meditated  a  more  generous 
culture  for  girls.  She  allowed  them  access  to  some 
of  the  best  stores  of  French  literature.  They  even 
enacted  plays  like  Racine's  Esther  with  great  spirit 
and  eclat.  But  she  seems  to  have  shrunk  in  terror 
from  the  revelation  which  their  acting  gave  her,  of 
the  spirit,  the  vivacity,  the  capabilities  of  intellect 
and  affection  which  lay  hidden  in  these  young  girls. 
The  plays  were  given  up.  The  studies  were  limited 
to  reading,  writing,  a  little  arithmetic  for  accounts, 
and  a  slight  knowledge  of  French  history.  The 
reading  of  the  girls  was  confined  to  pious  books,  but 
even  much  reading  was  held  in  suspicion.  Says 
Mme.  de  Maintenon  :  "  Reading  does  more  harm  than 

good  to  young  girls Books  make  people  witty,  and 

arouse  an  insatiable  curiosity." 

Instead  of  books  she  would  have  girls  learn  domes- 
tic economy,  the  duties  of  household  and  family, 
and  especially  all  kinds  of  household  work.  In  all 
these  the  girls  were  practised,  and  in  them  their 
directress  saw  a  moral  safeguard.  "  Labor,"  she 
says,  "  calms  the  passions,  occupies  the  mind,  and 
does  not  leave  it  time  to  think  of  evil  things."     This 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  225 

is  good  in  its  way,  but  it  is  iiu  effort  to  fill  an  inten- 
tional intellectual  void  with  the  labor  of  the  hands, 
to  send  forth  to  the  reponsibilities  of  the  family  life 
for  which  they  were  trained,  busy  hands  coupled 
with  an  empty  mind.  What  then  might  happen 
when  the  hands  need  no  longer  be  busy  ! 

To  us  of  the  19th  century  it  appears  that  Mme.  de 
Maintenon's  original  project  of  giving  to  girls  occu- 
pations for  heads  as  well  as  hands,  was  abandoned 
merely  because  it  promised  to  be  successful,  and  that 
had  these  young  maidens  shown  less  talent  the 
cause  of  female  education  might  have  been  substan- 
tially promoted  by  their  kind  patroness.  In  justice 
to  her,  however,  we  should  remember  the  prejudice 
against  learned  women  w'hich  has  been  very  slow  in 
dying  out,  and  wliich  then  had  but  recently  given 
point  to  some  of  Moliere's  comedies.  Her  latent 
purpose  was  to  prepare  her  girls  for  the  marriage 
market  of  that  day,  and  to  make  of  them  w^omen 
with  active  brains  and  well-stored  minds  might  have 
defeated  her  object. 

Mme.  de  Sevigne  is  so  widely  known  through  her 
elegant  letters,  that  it  is  needful  only  to  allude  to  her 
as  a  woman  of  the  17th  century,  who,  though  she 
wrote  nothing  directly  on  education,  was  yet  pos- 
sessed of  rare  intellectual  accomplishments  without 
in  the  least  incurring  the  odium  of  being  a  "  pre- 
cieuse",  and  whose  letters  show  her  to  have  been  an 
ardent  friend  to  a  lar^-e  culture  for  uirls. 


226  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

The  most  influential  advocate  in  that  age  of  a 
higher  type  of  education  for  women,  was  doubtless 
Fenelon,  Archbishop  of  Cambray  :  but  as  the  larger 
part  of  his  excellent  treatise,  "  De  1' Education  des 
Filles,"  is  applicable  equally  to  both  sexes,  and  as  its 
pedagogic  ideas  and  methods  are  of  great  interest, 
we  will  limit  ourselves  in  this  connection  to  what  he 
proposes  especially  for  girls,  returning  later  to  his 
general  views  on  educational  matters.  Besides  the 
treatise  that  has  been  alluded  to,  we  have  a  letter  to 
a  friend  of  his,  a  lady  of  rank,  on  the  training  of 
her  only  daughter,  which  is  replete  with  good  sense 
elegantly  expressed  Leaving  aside  the  considera- 
tion of  studies,  it  deals  with  such  matters  as  the 
inculcation  of  a  taste  for  quiet  elegance  in  dress, 
compassion  for  the  poor  and  unfortunate,  the  unob- 
trusive possession  of  rich  stores  of  solid  knowledge, 
and  most  emphatically  of  all,  deep  religious  princi- 
ple nourished  by  quiet  meditation. 

In  this  letter,  while  approving  of  convents  as  the 
best  i)laccs  for  tlie  training  of  the  majority  of  girls, 
because  of  the  ignorant  carelessness  or  the  frivolity 
of  mothers,  or  because  of  their  preoccupation  with 
many  domestic  cares,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  prefer 
home  training  where  it  can  be  made  such  as  it 
should  be,  nor  does  he  fail  to  point  out  the  risks  and 
disadvantages  of  conventual  education.  He  says  : 
"The  world  never  dazzles  so  much  as  when  one  sees 
it  from  [ifar,  without  ever  having  seen  it  near  at 


FEMALE  EDUCATION  AND  FENELON       227 

hand,  or  having  been  fortified  against  its  seductions. 
Hence  I  should  fear  a  worldly  convent  still  more 
than  the  world  itself... ..A  girl  who  has  been  separated 
from  the  world  only  by  being  ignorant  of  it,  and  in 
whom  virtue  has  not  yet  struck  deep  roots,  is  easily 
tempted  to  think  that  what  is  most  wonderful  has 
been  hidden  from  her.  She  emerges  from  the  con- 
vent like  one  who  has  been  brought  up  in  the  gloom 
of  a  deep  cavern,  and  who  is  suddenly  exposed  to 
the  full  light  of  day.  Nothing  is  more  dazzling 
than  this  unprepared-for  passage,  this  glamour  to 
which  one  has  never  been  accustomed.  It  is  much 
better  that  a  girl  be  gradually  accustomed  to  the 
world  by  the  side  of  a  pious  and  discreet  mother." 
From  these  guarded  expressions  of  the  pious  arch- 
bishop, it  is  easy  to  infer  that  his  opinion  of  a  con- 
ventual education  for  girls  is  less  favorable  than  that 
of  St.  Jerome,  and  that  he  considers  it  only  as  an 
alternative  against  pressing  dangers  at  home. 

Of  the  special  education  of  women,  he  says  in  his 
treatise,  "  The  education  of  women  like  that  of  men 
should  tend  to  prepare  them  for  their  duties."  The 
highest  and  most  imperative  of  these  duties,  he 
believes  is  to  educate  their  children  aright,  and  he 
indicates  clearly  the  wisdom,  the  prudence,  the  piety, 
the  gentle  firmness,  and  the  knowledge  of  human 
nature  that  are  essential  for  this  high  office.  Next 
to  this,  the  girl  should  be  trained  in  those  things 
which    will    fit  her  to  rule  successfully   her   snuill 


228  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     P^DUCATION 

kingdom,  the  household,  iu  which  he  em})liasizes 
these  poiuts  :  (1)  A  wise  economy,  as  remote  on  the 
one  hand  from  avarice  and  sordidness  as  from  ex-  ' 
travagance  and  ostentation  on  the  other,  and  in  order 
that  they  may  attain  this,  girls  should  be  given  the 
care  of  something,  should  learn  the  values  of  com- 
modities, and  should  be  taught  to  keep  accounts 
with  accuracy  :  (2)  Girls  should  be  trained  to  neatness 
and  order,  which  however  Fenelon  would  have  care- 
fully guarded  against  degenerating  into  a  narrow 
fastidiousness  or  a  petty  and  annoying  fussiness  :  (o) 
They  should  learn  how  to  care  for  and  manage  ser- 
vants, and  in  regard  to  this  his  advice  is  full  of  a 
kind  of  wisdom  such  as  we  should  hardly  look  for 
in  a  man  and  an  ecclesiastic :  Finally  (4)  he  recom- 
mends that  girls  should  be  reared  with  a  careful 
regard  to  their  probable  future  station  in  life,  and 
with  ideas  suited  to  this  as  respects  dress,  duties,  and 
pleasures. 

The  intellectual  culture  which  Fenelon  proposes 
for  girls  is  very  far  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  pre- 
sents an  ideal  for  general  female  education  which 
would  do  no  discredit  to  any  period.  He  would 
have  girls  taught  to  read  and  write  ivcll;  and,  while 
calling  attention  to  the  badness  of  much  that  passes 
for  reading,  he  explains  that  what  he  means  by  good 
reading  is  the  ability  to  read  fluently  and  intelligent- 
ly, naturally,  and  so  as  to  give  pleasure  to  hearers. 
They  should  have  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  gram- 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    PENELON  229 

mar  of  their  own  language,  and  should  be  so  well 
versed  in  the  simple  rules  of  arithmetic  as  to  be  able 
to  use  them  accurately  in  accounts  and  in  the  ordin- 
ary business  of  life.  To  this  he  would  add  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  ordinary  business  forms,  and  of  those 
elementary  ideas  of  law  and  justice  which  women 
are  likely  to  need  as  well  as  men  in  many  of  the 
exigencies  of  life. 

He  recommends  moreover  the  reading  of  carefully 
chosen  profane  authors,  works  of  jDoetry  and  elo- 
quence, and  the  history  of  France  and  Greece  and 
Rome.  For  sacred  history,  he  advises  that  there 
should  early  be  given  orally  a  series  of  brief  and 
vivid  narrations  chronologically  arranged,  and  pre- 
senting the  noblest  and  most  inspiring  incidents  and 
characters  of  the  Bible  story.  These  he  would  have 
presented  at  intervals,  not  as  tasks  to  be  memorized, 
but  rather  as  rewards  for  good  conduct.  The  topics 
for  such  a  series  of  narrations  are  given  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  his  treatise,  and  they  are  especially  worthy 
of  note  because  they  are  probably  the  first  sugges- 
tion of  a  method  of  teaching  history  from  vitalized  cen- 
tres which  is  now  attracting  a  good  deal  of  attention. 
If  girls  are  to  learn  any  language  save  their  own, 
he  prefers  that  it  should  be  Latin,  "the  language  of 
the  church,"  rather  than  Italian  or  Spanish. 

Furthermore  he  recommends  that  girls  be  taught 
music  and  painting,  but  with  careful  avoidance  in 
music  of  everything  that  would  unduly  excite  the 


230         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDtfCATION 

passions,  aud  "  make  innocent  pleasures  seem  too 
tame."  Finally  they  should  be  taught  to  use  their 
hands  deftly  in  all  the  usual  kinds  of  tasteful  femi- 
nine work. 

Obviously  we  have  here  a  very  generous  scheme 
of  general  female  culture,  one  which  not  merely 
busies  the  hands,  but  which  is  capable  of  filling  both 
mind  and  heart  so  full  of  worthy  and  noble  objects 
that  there  would  be  small  leisure  for  vague  fancies 
and  vicious  desires. 

Mme.  de  Lambert,  the  foremost  disciple  of  Fenelon, 
courageously  claims  for  her  sex  the  riglit  to  a  suit- 
able education,  in  which  she  would  add  to  the 
scheme  of  Fenelon  a  little  of  pliilosophy,  especially 
the  Cartesian,  to  give  precision  to  the  girl's  thoughts 
and  to  enable  her  to  talk  sensibly.  She  enters  a 
vigorous  protest  against  including  learning  in  the 
same  ridicule  with  pedantry,  by  which  doubtless 
some  women  were  frightened  away  from  the  pursuit 
of  learning ;  and  she  declares  that  because  women 
have  been  excluded  from  things  of  the  spirit  and 
from  tlie  literary  culture  of  letters,  they  have  been 
forced  to  fall  back  on  mere  pleasures. 

Such  then  are  the  ideas  which  some  of  the  best 
minds  of  the  17th  century  have  advanced  in  behalf 
of  a  Ijetter  education  for  women.  They  show  clearly 
that  the  princii:»les  of  the  Renaissance  are  extending 
themselves  to  that  which  is  but  too  apt  to  be  over- 
looked by  men, — the  need  of  a  progressive  intellect- 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  231 

ual  elevation  of  the  female  sex.  The  credit  of  initia- 
ting this  movement  belongs  almost  solely  to  France  ; 
for  Germany  took  no  other  part  in  it  than  the  pro- 
posal of  the'  exiled  Moravian  bishop  Comenius. 

Fenelou 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  besides  what 
Fenelon  did  to  promote 
the  better  education  of  wo- 
men, his  merits  both  as  a 
highly  original  and  ingen- 
ious teacher  and  as  the 
author  of  pedagogic  works 
prepared  to  further  his 
views  as  to  how  instruction 
should  be  given,  arfe  im- 
portant facts  in  the  educa-  fenelon,  1651-1715 
tional  history  of  the  17tli  century. 

He  was  born  of  a  distinguished  family  in  1651. 
He  completed  his  college  studies  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
and  then  at  his  own  earnest  desire  he  was  educated 
for  the  priesthood  of  which  his  entire  life  made  him 
in  all  respects  a  brilliant  ornament.  His  gentle 
piety  and  his  success  in  his  parochial  duties  caused 
him  to  be  made,  at  an  early  age,  director  of  an 
institution  for  reclaiming  Protestant  women  to  Catho- 
licism, and  it  was  during  the  ten  years  that  he  held 
this  place  that  ho  wrote  his  treatise  "  De  I'Education 
des  Filles  ",  a  work  which  deserves  all  the  influence 


232  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUOATION 

it  lias  exerted,  by  the  soundness  of  its  views  and  by 
the  pedagogic  ingenuity  of  its  suggestions. 

In  1689,  in  the  flower  of  his  manhood,  he  was 
aj^pointed  tutor  to  the  3'oung  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
grandson  and  jiresuniptive  heir  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
duke  was  an  intelligent  but  headstrong  child,  of  a 
violent,  fierce,  and  ungovernable  temper,  and  with 
an  overweening  sense  of  his  own  importance ;  but 
yet  possessed  withal  of  latent  possibilities  which  were 
of  the  greatest  promise.  In  taming  this  young 
human  tiger  and  reducing  him  to  order,  in  develop- 
ing his  dormant  powers,  and  in  inculcating  in  hiin 
those  principles  which  should  fit  him  for  the  high 
destiny  which  seemingly  awaited  him,  Fenelon  dis- 
played all  that  prudence,  tact,'and  delicacy  of  touch 
which  he  sets  forth  so  admirably  in  his  treatise.  He 
especially  exemplified  his  favorite  idea  of  indirect 
instruction,  which  he  sets  forth  in  the  5th  cha})ter  of 
the  treatise,  in  the  admirable  series  of  Fables  and 
Dialogues,  soon  to  be  described,  which  he  composed 
for  the  moral  instruction  of  his  charge.  His  extra- 
ordinary success  with  his  seemingly  intractable  pupil 
caused  him  to  be  named  Archbishop  of  Cambray,  in 
which  diocese  for  nearly  a  score  of  years  he  displayed 
the  virtues  of  the  primitive  apostles,  in  the  simplicity 
of  his  life  and  in  his  services  to  the  popr  and  wretched 
who  were  exposed  to  the  horrors  of  war.  He  ended 
his  noble  and  pious  life  in  1715  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
four. 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    PENELON  233 

On  account  of  the  nearly  absolute  character  of  the 

French    monarchy,   and  the  consequent  enormous 

influence  which  their  princes  exerted  both  on  the 

destinies  of  the  state  and  on  the  entire  tone  and  fabric 

of  society,  the   utmost   importance   was  attributed 

during  the  17th  century  to  the  training  of  the  future 

kings  and  princes  of  France.     Hence  some  of  the 

greatest  and  most  learned  men  of  the  age,  not  only 

eagerly  accepted  the  office  of  tutors  to  them,  but  also 

wrote  text-books  for  their  instruction,  and  sometimes 

treatises  on  the  methods  that  they  employed.     Hence 

in  France,  the  pedagogy  of  the  17th  century  has  a 

prevailing    character    of    something   intended   for 

princes,  though  the  views  that   are  expressed   are 

usually  equally  applicable  to  all  children. 

V 
Thus  the  famous  Bossuet  and  other  men  hardly 

less  distinguished  were  tutors  of  the  Dauphin,  the 
stuj)id  and  obstinate  son  of  Louis  XIV  ;  and  to  pen- 
etrate his  dull  brain,  Bossuet  caused  to  be  prepared 
the  long-esteemed  Delphine  edition  of  the  classics, 
besides  writing  himself  a  treatise  of  logic,  a  "  Dis- 
course on  Universal  History,"  and  some  other  books. 
Thus  l^cnelon  prepared  for  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 
all  his  pedagogic  works  save  his  treatise  on  the  edu- 
cation of  girls  and  the  advice  to  a  lady  which  has 
previously  been  referred  to.  That  they  contributed 
to  his  success  with  a  pupil  seemingly  so  unpromis- 
ing, gives  them  an  additional  claim  on  our  attention 
as  the  means  used    in   an  interesting   pedagogical 


234  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

experiment.  These  works  are  the  Fables,  the  Dia- 
logues of  the  Dead,  and  the  Adventures  of  Tele- 
niachus,  which  last  was  once  largely  used  in  the 
schools  of  this  country  as  a  French  reading-book. 

Of  the  Fables  there  are  thirty-six,  many  of  which 
are  of  considerable  length.  They  are  all  very  lively 
and  interesting  in  tone,  and  all  embody  moral  les- 
sons skilfully  adapted  to  a  child  of  such  character 
and  such  future  destinies  as  the  young  prince  for 
whom  they  were  composed.  A  good  example  of 
this  is  the  pretty  story  of  Rosamond  and  Braminte 
and  the  magic  ring  which  a  fairy  presented  to  them 
in  turn, — showing  the  good  and  the  bad  uses  to 
which  unlimited  power  may  be  turned,  and  its  fatal 
results,  when  employed  for  selfish  or  malevolent 
ends. 

Several  of  them  were  evidently  intended  to  suggest 
to  the  quick-witted  young  prince  the  correction  of 
the  glaring  faults  to  which  he  was  prone,  in  that 
indirect  or  suggestive  mode  of  instruction  which 
Fenelon  so  greatly  favored.  Such,  for  example,  are 
the  Fable  of  the  Bee  and  the  Fly,  conveying  a  lesson 
on  unreasonable  anger ;  and  that  of  the  youthful 
Bacchus  and  the  Faun,  in  which  the  Faun  is  repre- 
sented as  laughing  at  the  blunders  of  Bacchus  in 
practising  the  language  of  the  gods,  to  whom  the 
young  god  "  said  with  a  haughty  and  impatient 
tone,  '•  How  darest  thou  laugh  at  the  son  of  Jove  ! ' 
'  Ah,'  replied  the  Faun  without  emotion,  '  How  dare 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  235 

tho  son  of  Jupiter  make  any  mistake  ! '  "  To  one 
who  bears  in  mind  the  violent  and  haughty  temper 
of  the  spoiled  child  with  whom  Fenelon  had  to  deal, 
the  application  of  fables  like  these  is  obvious. 

The  Dialogues  of  the  Dead  form  a  series  of 
seventy-nine  conversations  imagined  to  be  carried  on 
in  the  realm  of  shades  by  various  historic  or  mythic 
personages,  ranging  from  Hercules  and  the  Trojan 
heroes  to  kings  and  statesmen  not  long  dead.  They 
evidently  had  a  double  purpose,  viz.,  to  give  to  his 
royal  pupil  a  keener  interest  in  historic  study  by 
familiarizing  him  with  famous  men  who  did  much 
to  shape  the  destinies  of  their  times,  whilst  at  the 
same  time  inculcating  wholesome  ideas  of  many 
things  which  should  fit  the  future  king  of  France  to 
reign  justly  and  wisely. 

The  first  purpose  was  analogous  to  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  Fenelon  for  teaching  sacred  history  by  a 
series  of  interesting  Bible  stories  chronologically 
arranged.  Dr.  Thomas  Arnold,  in  an  essay  on  classi- 
cal teaching,  in  1834  suggested  a  similar  scheme  for 
teaching  history,  by  a  series  of  striking  pictures  and 
biographic  narrations,  arranged  chronologically  to 
serve  as  nuclei  for  future  accretions ;  and  twenty 
years  later  Drs.  Spiess  and  Verlet  embodied  the  idea 
in  three  concentric  courses  of  historic  and  biographic 
narrations  for  German  secondary  schools,  each  course 
reviewing  and  widening  the  course  of  the  preceding 
one.     These   works   have   already  passed   through 


236  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

many  editions.  Thus  this  idea  of  Fenelon  has 
begun  to  bear  fruit  in  the  last  half  of  the  19th 
century. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  from  an  educational  point  of 
view,  that  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  before 
that  of  his  grandfather,  has  taken  from  us  any  proof 
of  the  success  or  failure  of  Fenelon  in  his  second 
purpose,  that  of  training  a  wise,  just,  and  virtuous 
king  for  France  ;  but  the  character  which  the  young 
man  is  said  to  have  exhibited  during  his  brief 
career,  so  far  as  the  roseate  accounts  of  princes  can 
be  trusted,  was  such  as  to  rouse  the  highest  expec- 
tations among  those  who  knew  him. 

Besides  the  Fables  and  Dialogues,  Fenelon  com- 
posed for  his  pupil  a  number  of  short  pieces,  partly 
in  French  and  partly  in  Latin ;  and  when  he  had 
grown  to  manhood,  his  old  tutor  gave  him  a  final 
proof  of  the  affectionate  interest  in  which  he  was 
held  by  writing  for  liis  guidance  the  "  Adventures  of 
Telemachus,"  in  which  the  son  of  Ulysses  is  rej^re- 
sented  as  traversing  various  regions  in  a  search  for 
his  father,  and  learning  in  his  journeyings  the  art 
of  governing  justly,  under  the  tutorship  of  the  god- 
dess Minerva  who  has  concealed  herself  under  the 
guise  of  the  wise  old  man  Mentor.  This  work, 
which  w^as  published  without  the  knowledge  of  its 
author,  attracted  to  him  the  lively  hostility  of  Louis 
XIV.,  who  considered  it  a  criticism  uj)on  his  policy 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  237 

of  goveruincLit,  aiul  who  prohibited  nil  iutercourse 
of  his  grandson  with  liis  former  tutor. 

In  all  this  Fenelon  has  shown  us  vividly  how 
serious  is  the  task  of  him  who  undertakes  the  duty 
of  preparing  the  young  for  their  future  career,  and 
how  great  is  the  foresight  and  how  indefatigable  the 
pains  that  should  be  exercised  in  acquitting  one's 
self  of  this  task.  The  means  that  he  used  for  the 
accomplishment  of  his  purpose  will  repay  a  careful 
study  by  all  educators. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  treatise  on  the  Education 
of  Girls,  for  a  brief  survey  of  Fenelon's  ideas  on 
general  education.  What  chiefly  impresses  one  in 
this  treatise  is  the  fineness  and  delicacy  of  touch 
which  he  thinks  should  be  displayed  in  the  manage- 
ment of  youth,  and  the  great  emphasis  which  he 
lays  upon  careful  moral  training,  the  thorough 
development  of  estimable  character. 

The  refinement  of  this  method  which  appears  in 
all  his  suggestions,  and  which  Professor  Compayre 
seems  inclined  to  stigmatize  as  cajolery,  is  shown 
perhaps  most  obviously  in  his  favorite  mode  of  con- 
veying instruction  indirectly  or  by  suggestion,  which 
he  uses,  not  only  to  captivate  attention  by  a  striking 
example  aptly  introduced,  but  for  the  higher  pur- 
pose of  eliciting  independent  mental  activity  on  the 
part  of  the  pupil  in  the  application  of  the  truth  that 
has  been  covertly  presented.  The  Fables  and  Dia- 
logues   are   good    illustrations    of  this    suggestive 


238  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

method,  which  it  need  hardly  be  said  is  emineutly 
objective  in  its  character. 

His  dehcate  discrimination  is  farther  exempUfied 
in  the  care  that  he  recommends  in  studying  the 
innate  differences  of  temperament  and  incHnation  in 
children.  In  this  he  strikingly  contrasts  the  differ- 
ence of  treatment  required  by  those  gifted  with  lively 
sensibilities  or  weighted  by  dull  ones,  and  unwit- 
tingly lays  down  the  lines  on  which  a  few  years 
later  he  so  happily  trained  a  prince  of  quick  under- 
standing, but  violent,  headstrong,  and  haughty  in 
no  ordinary'-  degree. 

In  moral  education,  like  most  educators,  he  lays 
great  stress  on  early  impressions  as  deeply  influenc- 
ing the  entire  future  of  children.  It  is  strange  that 
though  this  is  so  well  known  there  is  so  little  practi- 
cal realization  of  it  by  parents  and  teachers.  Fene- 
lon  would  especially  have  the  children  of  more 
ftivored  parents  guarded  from  an  inordinate  idea  of 
their  own  importance,  by  guarding  them  from  the 
servility  of  inferiors,  by  letting  them  see  that  the 
care  that  is  bestowed  on  them  is  due  less  to  their 
merit  than  to  their  feebleness,  and  by  showing  them 
that  they  are  not  perfect  since  they  improve  from 
year  to  year. 

Like  Locke,  Fenelon  calls  earnest  attention  to  the 
need  of  eradicating  tendencies  to  craft  and  cunning, 
which  when  deeply  rooted,  he  thinks  constitute  the 
most  hopeless  type  of  character ;  and  he  adds  to  tliis 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON  239 

what  he  thinks  of  nearly  equal  moment,  false-shame, 
which  leads  to  secretiveness  and  dissimulation : 
children  should  be  early  taught  to  be  prudent  and 
discreet  without  being  deceitful.  "  The  highest  pru- 
dence," he  says,  "  consists  in  saying  little,  in  distrust- 
ing ourselves  much  more  than  others,  but  not  in 
dissemljling  speeches.  Uprightness  of  conduct,  and 
the  general  reputation  of  j)robity  bring  to  us  more 
confidence  and  esteem,  and  consequently  more  ad- 
vantages even  of  a  worldly  kind,  than  deceitful 
ways." 

Moral  lessons  like  others  should  be  inculcated  by 
examples  and  suitable  narrations  rather  than  by 
bald  precepts.  Thus  he  would  choose  for  this  in- 
struction such  events  from  the  Bible  "  as,  by  afford- 
ing pleasing  and  magnificent  images,  would  render 
religion  and  morality  beautiful  and  sublime."  He 
deprecates  the  too  common  practice  of  making  dress 
or  delicacies  for  the  palate,  rewards  for  well-doing, 
because  of  the  moral  effects  of  such  rewards  in  giv- 
ing the  child  a  false  standard  of  value,  leading  him 
to  esteem  low  things  more  than  high  ones.  He 
would  rather  bestow  judicious  praise,  or  give  as 
rewards  such  simple  and  innocent  recreations  as 
appeal  rather  to  the  aesthetic  and  intellectual  senti- 
ments than  to  vanity  and  sensuality.  In  this  con- 
nection he  weightily  says :  "  Of  all  the  faculties  of 
the  child,  reason  is  the  only  one  on  which  we  can 
depend.     If  carefully  trained  it  always  grows  with 


240  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

his  growth."  In  this,  as  in  other  parts  of  moral 
education,  he  is  in  full  accord  with  his  contemporary 
Locke  whose  "  Thoughts  on  Education  "  appeared 
at  nearly  the  same  time. 

The  most  salient  ideas  of  Fenelon  on  intellectual 
education  may  be  briefly  summarized.  1.  He 
strongly  advises  the  direction  of  the  child's  instincts 
rather  than  their  repression,  especially  the  instinct 
of  curiosity,  which  should  be  guided  into  proper 
channels  that  it  may  become  a  source  of  knowledge 
instead  of  expending  itself  dangerously.  Here  he 
is  at  one  with  the  Innovators  in  care  for  observation. 

2.  He  cautions  against  overcrowding  children, 
while  recognizing  their  characteristic  lack  of  control 
over  attention  ;  nor  would  he  have  them  contract  a 
habit  of  accepting  statements  without  due  reason. 

3.  He  counsels  great  judgment  and  discretion  in  the 
selection  of  matters  to  be  taught  to  the  young.  "  Into 
a  reservoir  so  little  and  so  precious  only  exquisite 
things  should  be  poured,"  he  beautifully  says. 

He  not  only  everywhere  advocates,  but  also  shows 
how  to  practise,  making  learning  pleasurable  to  youth 
and  using  ingenious  expedients  to  secure  on  their 
part  a  delighted  mental  activity.  Hence  he  strongly 
reprobates  the  evil  practice  of  setting  lessons  as 
punishments,  as  tending  directly  to  connect  unpleas- 
ant associations  with  what  he  would  always  have 
presented  as  a  delight.  Finally,  not  only  in  these 
principles,  but  also  in  the  care  that  he  recommends 


FEMALE    EDUCATION    AND    FENELON 


241 


for  health,  for  letting  children  see  and  feel  the  use 
for  the  activities  of  life  of  all  that  they  learn,  for 
the  exercise  of  authority  mildly  and  without  caprice, 
for  cultivating  judgment  and  reason  by  their  use  as 
fast  as  they  develop,  and  for  teaching  all  things, 
Latin  included,  through  the  vernacular  and  using 
thereto  pretty  and  well-illustrated  text-books, — Fen- 
elon  shows  himself  in  harmony  with  educational 
reformers  like  Comenius. 


EDUCATORS    MENTIONED    IN    THIS    CHAPTER 
P.  225  P.  233 


MADAMK  DK  SEYlGNfi, 
1626-1696 


JACQUES  liEKIGNE  liObSUET, 
1627-1704 


CHAPTER  IX 

ORATORY    OF    JESUS,    AND    BEGINNINGS    OF     AMERICAN 
EDUCATION 

V.  It  might  be  questioned  whether  the  origin  of 
the  important  teaching  congregation,  the  Oratory  of 
Jesus,  is  an  educational  fact  of  such  prominence  as 
to  be  made  one  of  the  characteristics  of  the  17th 
century;  but  when  we  reflect  upon  the  influence  it 
has  had  in  promoting  and  re-shaping  secondary 
education  in  France,  a  most  important  member 
among  civihzed  states,  we  are  likely  to  find  a  sufii- 
cient  reason  for  giving  it  this  prominence. 

This  religious  community  was  introduced  in 
France  about  1614  by 
Pierre  de  BeruUe,  who  later 
became  a  cardinal.  One  of 
its  leading  functions  was 
to  teach.  Intended  at  first 
for  the  education  of  can- 
didates for  the  priesthood, 
its  services  soon  extended 
far  beyond  these  limits  corm  LuTrr^t^N  i585-i638 
and  inclined  the  secondary  education  of  all  classes. 
Since  it  espoused  the  doctrines  of  Jansen,  like  Port 
Royal  (see  page  186)  it  incurred  the  pronounced 
hostility  of  the  Jesuits,  in  spite  of  which  however  it 
so  prospered  that  in  fifteen  years  after  its  founda- 

(343) 


ORATORY    OF    JESUS  243 

tioii  it  had  charge  of  more  than  fifty  houses  or  col- 
leges, and  grew  rapidly  in  influence  thereafter. 

It  did  in  truth  come  into  a  silent  antagonism  with 
the  Jesuits,  in  its  form  of  organization,  its  principles, 
and  its  subjects  of  study,  together  with  the  spirit  in 
which  study  was  pursued. 

Its  organization  was  purely  Galilean  :  its  superior 
resided  in  France,  and  was  responsible  solely  to  the 
archbishops  and  to  the  general  council  of  the  order : 
its  members  were  bound  by  no  vows  save  the  usual 
vows  of  the  priesthood,  and  hence  were  free  to  quit 
the  Oratory  at  pleasure  :  and  the  obedience  of  the 
brothers  was  purely  a  voluntary  submission  to  supe- 
riors whom  they  themselves  elected.  Hence  a  degree 
of  liberty  and  spontaneity  was  enjoyed  by  its  mem- 
bers of  which  the  Jesuits  never  dreamed. 

Its  j^riuciples  were, — to  render  a  cheerful  obedi- 
ence to  officials  and  laws  that  they  had  themselves 
ordained  :  not  to  interfere  with  political  matters  ;  or; 
as  one  of  them  says,  "  Our  politics  is  to  have  no 
politics,  and  nothing  is  more  foreign  to  our  spirit 
than  to  establish  and  strengthen  our  order  by  human 
means  :  "  to  leave  to  individual  members  a  large 
degree  of  personal  liberty  in  intellectual  matters : 
and,  in  instruction,  to  combine  a  taste  for  profane  let- 
ters with  a  love  for  historic  facts  and  scientific  truths, 
— all  of  which  was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Jesuits. 

In  the  nature  and   range  of  studies  pursued,  the 


244  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

Oratorians  differed  not  less  widely  from  the  Jesuits 
than  in  organization  and  principles.  The  Jesuits 
made  obligatory  the  use  of  Latin  in  communication  : 
the  Oratorians  promoted  a  thorough  study  of  the 
mother  tongue  and  taught  all  subjects  in  it  up  to 
the  fourth  year  of  school,  after  which  Latin  was 
required  save  in  history,  which  was  always  taught 
in  French.  The  Jesuits  made  large  use  of  Latin 
themes  and  verses  :  the  fathers  of  the  Oratory  laid 
quite  as  much  stress  on  explanation  of  texts,  on  oral 
work,  and  on  imitation  of  what  had  been  explained. 
The  study  of  the  Jesuits  was  almost  exclusively 
literary  on  the  formal  side,  other  subjects  being 
mere  accessories  to  this  :  the  Oratory  combined  in- 
struction in  the  spirit  of  literature  with  a  generous 
measure  of  mathematics,  physics,  philosophy,  and 
history ;  this  last  subject,  indeed,  was  strongly 
emphasized  and  extended  through  all  their  classes, 
beginning  with  sacred  history  and  ending  with  the 
history  of  France. 

They  united  the  study  of  geography  with  that  of 
history,  and  enlivened  it  by  the  use  of  mural  charts. 
A  similar  expedient  to  enliven  the  study  of  Latin 
grammar  was  also  devised  by  one  of  the  Oratorians, 
in  the  form  of  five  charts  of  different  colors,  one  for 
genders  and  declensions,  a  second  for  conjugations, 
a  third  for  preterites  and  supines,  and  the  other  two 
for  syntax  and  quantity.  In  Greek  it  was  counted 
sufficient  to  be  able  to  read  it  understandingly  with- 


ORATORY    OF    JESUS  245 

out  writing  it ;  and  that  comparative  study  of  lan- 
guages, which  at  Port  Royal  gave  birth  to  Arnauld's 
General  Grammar,  was  not  undertaken  by  the 
Oratory.  Finally,  it  may  be  said  that  in  philosophy 
they  followed  Plato  and  Descartes  rather  than  Aris- 
totle and  the  schoolmen.  In  all  this  it  may  be  seen 
that  their  tendency  was  not  only  away  from  the 
Jesuits,  but  towards  the  principles  of  the  educational 
reformers. 

Their  discipline,  while  mild  and  winning  like  that 
of  the  Jesuits,  yet  avoided  the  spiritual  subjugation, 
the  espionage,  and  the  spirit  of  equivocation  which 
were  so  freely  charged  against  their  rivals. 

The  Oratorians  produced  also  authors  like  Ber- 
nard Lamy,  and  Thomassin,  in  whose  works  we  find 
embodied  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  organi- 
zation mingled  with  ideas  peculiar  to  themselves. 
The  former,  in  his  "  Conversations  on  the  Sciences," 
treats  of  studies  in  general,  and  of  letters  more  than 
sciences.  His  idea  of  education  is  that  it  consists  of 
three  parts,  acquisition  of  knowledge,  justice  of  judg- 
ment, and  rectitude  of  conduct ;  the  first  of  which 
he  conceives  to  be  chiefly  valuable  for  the  second, 
and  both  tliese  that  they  may  lead  to  the  third. 
The  resemblance  of  this  to  Locke's  idea  is  sufficiently 
striking. 

Lamy  like  Fleury  would  have  study  begin  with  a 
good  Logic,  a  curious  perversion  of  the  educational 
process,  which  would  undertake  to  teach  how  to 


246  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

reason  correctly  before  taking  care  to  develop  the 
power  to  reason  at  all,  or  providing  materials  for  the 
exercise  of  reason.  To  the  theory  of  logic  he  demands 
that  practice  in  mathematics  and  especially  in  geome- 
try be  added.  "  There  is,"  he  says,  "  no  study  fitter 
to  exercise  the  judgment  than  geometry  and  other 
parts  of  mathematics."  In  this  combination  of  the 
doctrine  of  logic  with  its  practice,  Lamy  follows  in 
the  track  of  Ramus. 

In  language  he  believes  in  beginning  with  ver- 
sions, recommends  a  scheme  having  some  similarity 
to  that  of  Comenius,  and  suggests  interlinear  trans- 
lations. He  decries  Latin  versification,  and  proposes 
as  the  order  in  which  Latin  authors  shall  be  studied, 
Terence,  Caesar,  Sallust,  Cicero,  Virgil,  and  Horace. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  we  may  find  in  a  sentence  of 
Lamy  the  hint  of  one  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of 
Rousseau  :  "  We  are  the  work  of  God,"  says  Lamy  ; 
"we  have  therefore  no  reason  to  think  we  are  bad." 

The  key  note  to  Thomassin  is  to  be  found  in  his 
idea  that  "  there  is  hardly  one  of  the  classic  authors 
of  Greece  and  Rome  who  does  not  illustrate  some 
obscurities  in  Holy  Writ."  Hence  much  that  he 
wrote  is  a  plea  for  the  study  of  classic  authors  from 
a  Christian  stand-point,  not  only  on  account  of  the 
pure  morality  of  many  of  them,  but  because  he 
believed  that  at  the  bottom  their  fables  are  mere 
distortions  of  Christian  doctrines,  derived  from 
natural  religion  or  from  traditions  communicated  by 


ORATORY   OF    JESUS  247 

travellers.  Moreover  he  fancied  that  Hebrew  was 
the  original  language,  and  that  Greek  and  Latin 
were  mere  off-shoots  therefrom  ;  and  from  the  com- 
bination of  these  ideas,  he  was  led  to  emphasize  the 
importance  of  the  study  of  etymologies  leading  to 
comparative  philology. 

The  material  from  which  this  sketch  of  an  influen- 
tial teaching  congregation  has  been  condensed,  have 
been  mainly  derived  from  Prof  Compayre's  "  Criti- 
cal History  of  the  Doctrines  of  Education  in  France." 

VI.  What  has  been  named  as  the  last  of  the 
characteristic  facts  in  the  educational  history  of  the 
17th  century  is  one  which  has  a  special  interest  for 
Americans :  it  is  that  with  the  beginnings  of  per- 
manent colonization  in  this  country,  we  have  also 
the  beginnings  of  efforts  for  education,  efforts  too 
which  in  at  least  one  case  look  towards  free,  general, 
and  even  compulsory  education.  Of  these  begin- 
nings we  must  here  content  ourselves  with  a  more 
brief  sketch,  that  it  may  take  its  pro]3er  chronologi- 
cal place  in  the  series  of  important  educational  facts. 

The  early  colonists  of  North  America  seem  in  all 
cases  to  have  realized  the  need  of  education  for  their 
children,  and  to  have  made  creditable  efforts  to  pro- 
vide  for  it,  the  form  which  these  efforts  assumed 
differing  in  different  colonies.  In  the  colonies  south 
of  New  York,  provision  for  education  was  with  few 
exceptions  made  by  private  schools  or  by  parental 
teaching  of  the  elements  of  learning.     Not  a  few  of 


248  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

the  wealthier  famihes  sent  their  sons  to  England  for 
their  training.  Yet  early  efforts  were  made  in  Vir- 
ginia, with  the  aid  of  friends  in  the  mother  country, 
for  the  establishment  of  both  schools  and  a  college 
in  that  colony ;  but  the  project  failed  by  reason  of 
Indian  wars,  and  the  money  that  had  been  raised 
was  lost. 

To  Virginia  however  belongs  the  credit  of  found- 
ing the  second  college  on  this  continent,  the  college 
of  William  and  Mary.  This  institution  was  char- 
tered in  1693,  and  received  large  endowments  in 
money  and  lauds,  besides  the  proceeds  of  a  tax  on 
tobacco  and  the  fees  for  the  survey  of  the  public 
lands,  which  was  placed  under  its  charge.  Many  of 
the  leading  j^atriots  of  Virginia  received  their  educa- 
tion within  its  walls  ;  but  it  had  in  recent  years  fallen 
into  a  neglect  and  decay  that  was  greatly  to  be  de- 
2^1ored  in  the  case  of  an  institution  so  venerable. 
Since  1888,  however,  this  ancient  college  has  entered 
on  what  seems  destined  to  be  a  new  era  of  prosperity, 
as  has  been  learned  from  its  registers  which  have 
come  to  hand  since  the  first  edition  of  this  book  was 
in  print. 

The  documents  of  the  Colonial  History  of  New 
York  contain  numerous  evidences  of  the  care  of  the 
early  Dutch  settlers  for  the  maintenance  of  clergy 
and  schoolmasters.  The  duty  of  patroons  and  citi- 
zens in  this  regard  is  emphasized  ;  taxes  are  decreed  ; 
complaints  are  made  of  the  misdirection  of  funds 


r.KGINXIXGS    OP    AMERICAN    EDUCATION  249 

intended  for  schools  ;  the  salaries  and  fees  of  school- 
masters are  defined  ;  the  secretary  of  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  stirs  to  emulation  by  pointing  to  the 
efforts  of  the  New  England  colonies  ;  and  the  names 
of  several  of  the  early  Dutch  teachers,  beginning  in 
lG-33  with  Adam  Roelenstan,  are  preserved  in  these 
documents  or  in  those  so  industriously  collected  by 
Dr.  Pratt,  late  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  New  York 
board  of  Regents  of  the  University.* 

.  After  New  York  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Eng- 
lish, the  chief  care  that  seems  to  have  been  given  to 
schools  during  the  17th  century  was  to  assure  that 
whatever  instruction  was  given  should  be  in  the 
English  tongue.  All  teachers  were  required  to  be 
licensed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — later  by 
the  Bishop  of  London — or  by  the  royal  governor ; 
and  some  futile  efforts  were  made  to  suppress  the 
Dutch  schools,  which  seem  to  have  sprung  up  in 
nearly  every  Dutch  hamlet. 

Much  the  most  significant  of  the  early  educational 
efforts,  however,  were  those  made  in  New  England, 
first  in  Massachusetts,  but  followed  very  soon  by 
Connecticut.  The  Boston  Latin  school  was  founded 
in  1635,  the  next  year  after  the  settlement  of  the 
town  was  begun,  and  claims  to  be  the  oldest  existing 
school  in  the  United  States, — a  claim  however  which 
is  disputed  in  fiivor  of  the  school  of  the  Reformed 

*  See  Convocation  Reports  of  the  University  of  New  York,  especially 
those  of  1868  and  1869. 


250         THE   HISTORY   OF   MODERN    EDUCATION 

Dutch  Church  in  New  York  which  was  opened  in 
1633.  In  1636,  what  has  now  become  famous  as 
Harvard  University  was  founded,  receiving  its  name 
from  John  Harvard,  its  chief  early  benefactor,  and 
having  for  its  foremost  object  the  training  of  a  learned 
clergy. 

The  early  years  of  this  now  wealthy  institution, 
like  those  of  most  American  colleges,  were  years  of 
a  struggle  with  poverty.  Its  studies  were  marked  by 
some  of  the  same  characteristics  which  we  have  seen 
in  European  schools, — a  mastery  of  the  Latin  being 
required  for  entrance,  then  Greek,  Hebrew  and  two 
other  Oriental  tongues,  logic  and  ethics  including 
politics,  arithmetic  and  geometry,  the  Bible  and 
divinity,  a  little  history  and  less  science, — such  was 
early  Harvard. 

But  even  more  interesting  tlian  this  early  pro- 
vision for  the  higher  learning,  was  the  wise  interest 
that  was  shown  to  provide  instruction  for  all  the 
children  in  the  elements  of  learning.  Thus  in  1642 
we  find  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  "taking 
into  serious  consideration  the  great  neglect  of  many 
parents  and  masters  in  training  up  their  children  in 
learning  and  labor,"  ordering  that  this  evil  shall  be 
remedied  by  the  officers  of  the  towns,  and  empower- 
ing them  to  punish  neglect  by  fines  or  even  "  to  put 
forth  as  apprentices  the  children  of  such  as  they 
shall  find  not  able  and  fit  to  employ  and  bring 
them  up." 


BE(5I^rISfI^fGS   OF    AMERICAN    EDUCATION  ^5l 

Five  years  later,  the  General  Court  passed  the  law 
which  is  usually  counted  as  the  beginning  of  the 
American  common  school  system.  "  It  being  one 
chiefs  project  of  yt  ould  deluder  Sathan,  to  keep  men 
from  the  knowledge  of  ye  Scripture,  as  in  former 
times  by  keeping  yem  in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  in 
this  latter  times  by  persuading  from  ye  use  of 
tongues,  yt  so  at  least  ye  true  sence  and  meaning 
of  ye  original  miglit  be  clouded  by  false  glosses  of 
saint-seeming  deceivers,....yt  learning  may  not  be 
buried  in  ye  grave  of  ol  fathrs  in  ye  church  and 
commonwealth,  the  Lord  assisting  o!  endeavors.  It 
is  therefore  ordered  "  1st,  that  when  any  town  has 
increased  to  fifty  families  it  shall  establish  a  school 
to  teach  all  youth  to  read  and  write,  the  teacher  to 
be  paid  either  by  parents  and  masters  or  by  tax  as 
the  majority  of  the  town  officers  may  decide  ;  2d, 
that  towns  of  a  hundred  families  shall  establish  a 
grammar  school  in  which  boys  may  be  prepared  for 
the  university  ;  and  3d,  that  a  line  of  £5  be  imposed 
on  towns  that  shall  fail  for  more  than  a  year  to  obey 
this  order. 

As  the  towns  grew  richer  during  the  century,  this 
fine  for  neglect  was  doubled  and  then  quadrupled. 
Thus  we  have  in  these  old  laws  the  outlines  of  a  sys- 
tem of  schools,  and  stringent  provisions  for  enforcing 
attendance  on  them  by  communities  as  well  as  indi- 
viduals. Laws  of  kindred  tenor  and  with  sanctions 
akin  to  those  contained  in  these  two  acts,  were  in 


252         THE   HISTORY   OP    MODERN    EDUflATION 

less  than  ton  years  j^assed  also  by  botli  colonies  that 
now  form  the  State  of  Connecticut.  In  man}^  New 
England  towns  also  portions  of  the  public  lands 
were  set  apart  for  school  purposes,  and  Massachusetts 
early  set  the  example  of  appropriating  one  sixty- 
third  of  her  public  lauds  to  create  a  fund  for  the 
support  of  schools. 

Such  were  the  remarkable  efforts  for  education 
made  by  the  American  colonies,  during  the  poverty, 
the  weakness,  and  the  struggles  with  an  untamed 
nature  and  wild  men,  of  the  first  century  of  their 
existence.  These  efforts  appear  even  more  remark- 
able when  we  consider  the  condition  of  general 
education  in  the  mother  country  of  most  of  the 
colonists,  and  generally  in  Euroj^e. 

In  England  there  is  yet  little  thought  of  caring  for 
the  education  of  the  poor,  nor  is  there  likely  to  be  for 
nearly  a  century  to  come.  The  instruction  of  the  high- 
born and  wealthy  is  carried  on  either  by  tutors  and 
private  schools  kept  chiefly  by  clergymen,  or  in  those 
great  secondary  schools  called  public  schools  of  which 
we  have  seen  that  so  many  were  added  during  the 
16th  century  to  those  already  existing.  The  studies 
in  these  schools  follow  closely  that  literary  direction 
marked  out  in  the  preceding  century  by  the  state  of 
culture,  and  systematized  by  Sturm,  with  Latin  and 
Greek,  themes  and  versification,  as  their  chief  sub- 
ject-matter. 

We  have  seen  in  France  and  Germany  vigorous 


BEGINNINGS    OF    AMERICAN    EDUCATION  253 

and  to  some  degree  successful  efforts  to  secure  atten- 
tion to  the  vernacular  in  schools.  Like  efforts  were 
made  in  England  by  Richard  Mulcaster  in  1582,  and 
again  by  John  Brinsley,  in  1(312,  but  neither  effort 
met  with  any  favor.  Brinsley's  book  on  the  gram- 
mar school  gives  us  however  a  view  of  the  school 
hours  which  is  worth  noting.  They  extended  from 
6  A.  M  to  5:30  p.  M.,  with  a  recess  of  two  hours  at 
noon  and  two  intermissions  of  fifteen  minutes  each. 
Thus  there  were  nine  hours  of  school  work  ;  and 
honest  Brinsley  seems  to  fancy  that  a  word  of  defence 
is  needed  for  the  two  intermissions  lest  some  may 
think  they  do  nought  but  play. 

In  France,  during  this  century,  there  was  very 
little  effort  to  educate  the 
common  people.  Near  its 
close,  in  1685,  La  Salle  and 
the  order  of  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools,  which  he 
founded,  began  their  efforts 
for  the  gratuitous  instruc- 
tion of  poor  children,  and 
they    even     established    a  la  salle  i65i-iri9 

training  school  for  the  supply  of  teachers  suitable  for 
their  purpose,  thus  in  some  slight  degree  mitigating 
the  general  ignorance.  The  education  of  the  more 
opulent  classes  was  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits 
who  were,  says  Compayre,  the  real  masters  of  educa- 


254  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION' 

tiou  in  France  ;  to  whose  schools  must  be  added  the 
rapidly  growing  numbers  of  those  controlled  b}^  the 
Congregation  of  the  Oratory  recently  described. 

In  Germany,  all  classes  of  schools  greatly  suffered, 
when  they  were  not  entirely  broken  up,  by  the  hor- 
rors of  the  terrible  Thirty  Years'  War.  After  its 
close  in  1648,  the  universities  and  secondary  schools 
revived  under  the  fostering  care  of  cities  and  princes, 
and  the  methods  prevailing  in  them  were  somewhat 
bettered,  with  the  growing  regard  for  the  vernacular 
and  the  increasing  use  of  text-books  in  German  ; 
wliilst  the  study  of  Greek  classics  declined,  a  fact 
which  Paulsen  illustrates  by  the  very  small  number 
of  editions  of  Greek  authors  that  appeared  between 
the  beginning  of  the  17th  century  and  1770.*  With 
this  decline  in  many  schools,  seems  to  have  been 
correlated  the  rise  of  a  kind  of  Lutheran  Schola.s- 
ticism,  marked  by  the  study  of  logic  and  metaphysics 
and  the  revival  of  disputations. 

Popular  schools,  where  they  were  established,  were 
mostly  very  bad,  both  from  the  poverty  of  the  peas- 
antry, who  had  relapsed  into  a  condition  of  semi-bar- 
barism, and  from  the  lack  of  well-instructed  teachers. 
The  teachers  are  described  b}''  Dr.  Dittes  as  wofulh'^ 
ignorant   of  even  the  most  elementary  school  sub- 

*  Geschichte  des  Gelehrteii  Unterrichts,  p.  .320.  See  also  von  Raumer— 
Gesch.  der  Padafcogik  Vol.  n.  pp.  82-92,  showinjr  the  lessened  demand  for 
Latin  as  a  second  vernacular,  the  aping  of  France  in  the  partiality  shown  in 
schools  to  rank,  and  the  efforts  to  prepare  for  worldly  eflSciency  by  intro- 
ducing a  medley  of  new  studies,  mostly  recUia,  which  he  evidently  dis 
approves. 


BEGINNINGS   OF    AMERICAN    EDUCATION  255 

jects.  Moreover  various  services  besides  teaching 
were  exacted  from  tlie  schoolmaster.  He  was  cliurcli 
singer,  organist,  and  clerk,  secretary  and  servant  of 
the  borough,  and  attendant  at  weddings  and  bap- 
tisims :  he  brushed  shoes  and  clothes,  split  the 
pastor's  wood,  threshed  his  corn,  and  collected  his 
perquisites  :  some  even  worked  at  trades  to  eke  out 
a  wretched  subsistence.  Such  multiplied  and  servile 
tasks  might  well  be  expected  to  make  of  the  teacher 
a  meafi-spirited  creature,  and  a  17th  century  writer 
who  is  quoted  by  Dittes  says  of  him  :  "  Seven  evil 
spirits  possess  the  clerk  or  so-called  village  school- 
master, viz.,  the  proud,  the  lazy,  the  coarse,  the  lying, 
the  wicked,  the  drunken,  and  the  stupid  devil ;"  to 
which  he  adds  what  would  naturally  accompany 
such  qualities,  the  poor  devil.* 

Of  all  the  countries  of  Europe  during  the  17th 
century,  Scotland  made  the  best  and  most  success- 
ful provision  for  general  education.  An  effort  was 
made  in  1615,  and  a  more  effective  one  in  1633  for 
the  diffusion  of  learning  among  all  classes.  Finally 
in  1696  a  thorough-going  law  was  enacted  which 
required  landlords  to  provide  schools  and  school- 
houses  in  every  parish,  to  nominate  masters,  to  pay 
them  a  salary  ranging  from  £5  to  £11,  and  to  fix 
the  fees  for  attendance  on  the  schools.  The  super- 
vision of  these  schools  was  vested  in  the  presbyteries, 
which  could  suspend  or  dismiss  the  master.     The 

*Gescli.  der  Erziehung  und  des  Uuterrichts,  pp.  iro  aud  7. 


256  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

masters  were  usually  able  to  teach  Latin  and  the 
elements  of  Greek  besides  the  usual  elementary 
studies.  As  a  result  of  this  wise  policy,  the  general 
intelligence  and  consequent  influence  of  the  Scots 
was  long  notable  in  Euroj^e,  and  a  very  great  dim- 
inution is  said  to  have  been  perceptible  in  the 
amount  of  crime,  beggary,  and  pauperism  among 
the  Scottish  people. 


CHAPTER  X 

CHARACTERISTICS  OP  EDUCATION  IN  THE    EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY 

At  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century  education 
has  ah'eady  made  great  advances  beyond  tlie  mid- 
dle ages.  Much  has  been  done  in  Scotland  for  gen- 
eral education,  and  a  very  promising  beginning  has 
been  made  in  New  England  ;  something  is  feebly 
Mtempted  in  the  same  direction  in  Germany ;  and 
in  France  the  efforts  of  La  Salle  present  some 
promise  for  the  future.  Secondary  schools  have 
multi})lied,  and  improved  through  the  adojotion  of 
better  studies  and  the  systematization  of  their  work 
by  Sturm.  The  universities  have  mostly  abandoned 
their  scholastic  subjects  and  methods,  and  have 
added  to  their  studies  some  elements  of  mathematics, 
while  i)ursuing  their  literary  and  jirofessional  work 
in  a  wiser  sj)irit.  The  Baconian  and  Cartesian  pliil- 
osophy  has  already  made  itself  felt,  and  the  17th 
century  has  closed  with  a  brilliant  era  of  discovery  in 
which  the  name  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  is  associated  with 
those  of  not  a  few  worthy  compeers.  The  Latin 
tongue  has  lost  something  of  its  exclusive  promi- 
nence, and  the  European  vernaculars  have  won  a 
noteworthy   place   in    instruction,  paving  thus  the 

(357) 


258  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

way  for  a  more  general  education  of  the  masses. 
Finally  the  ideas  of  the  educational  Innovators  have 
already  met  with  a  considerable  acceptance  in  their 
most  important  points  by  men  of  great  influence  in 
Germany,  France,  and  England. 

The  18th  century,  beginning  as  it  does  under  such 
auspices,  is  marked  by  a  very  considerable  progress 
in  promising  directions,  and  by  educational  move- 
ments of  a  high  degree  of  interest,  but  not  by  so 
great  an  advance  as  we  might  be  led  to  expect.  It 
was  a  century  of  political  and  social  unrest  which 
culminated  near  its  close  in  revolutions.  This^ 
unrest,  these  eager  expectations  looking  forward  to 
something  better  for  humanity  in  the  future,  are 
mirrored  in  the  educational  not  less  than  in  the 
political  history  of  the  century.  Educationally  it 
was  a  period  of  fermentation,  of  discontent  with  the 
present,  its  ideals  and  achievements,  of  experiments 
and  beginnings  which  should  bear  their  fruits  in 
the  coming  age. 

What  seem  to  me  to  be  the  most  significant  and 
characteristic  phases  of  the  educational  efforts  of  the 
18th  century,  all  bearing  the  stamp  of  the  discontent 
and  ex^^ectancy  of  the  age,  let  us  consider  in  the 
following  order :  (1)  The  Pietistic  movement  of 
Francke  which  aimed  to  give  to  education  a  more 
deeply  spiritual  character  ;  (2)  the  Real-School  move- 
ment, which,  starting  from  an  impulse  given  by 
Francke  and  his  followers,  strove  to  give  to  the  edu- 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       259 

cation  of  students  not  looking  to  professional  careers 
a  more  utilitarian  direction,  one  more  obviously 
fitting  boys  for  success  in  the  j)ractical  affairs  of  life ; 
(3)  the  movement  for  the  professional  training  of 
teachers  for  their  vocation,  which,  initiated  earlier 
by  the  Jesuits  and  by  La  Salle,  during  this  century 
took  definite  form  in  Germany  and  Austria,  under 
an  impulse  proceeding  from  the  example  and  spirit 
of  Francke ;  (4)  the  birth  at  Halle  of  the  modern 
university  spirit  of  freedom  in  investigation  and 
philosophizing,  and  the  rise  of  a  new  idea  of  human- 
istic studies  of  which  Gesner  was  the  leader  and 
Gottingen  the  center ;  (5)  the  intellectual  interest  in 
pedagogic  questions  which  took  form  in  the  remark- 
able theoretic  works  of  Rollin,  Rousseau,  and  Kant ; 

(6)  the  Philanthropinic  experiment  of  Basedow  based 
on  the  ideas  of  Comenius  and  inspired  by  Rousseau, 
which  even  in  its  failure  exerted  a  very  considerable 
influence  in  Germany  and  even  beyond  its  borders ; 

(7)  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  Pestalozzi ;  and  (<S) 
the  strengthening  in  Germany  of  the  movement  for 
popular  education,  not  only  through  the  efforts  of 
several  governments,  but  even  more  effectually 
by  the  benevolent  exertions  of  Von  Rochow,  with 
which  movement  was  also  correlated  the  triumph  of 
the  vernacular  in  its  use  for  school  and  university 
instruction. 

(1)  Although  the  Pietistic  movement  centers  in 
Francke,  it  received    its  original  inspiration   from 


260 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 


Philip  J.  Spener,  a  pious  Lutheran  clergyman  who 
died  in  Berlin  in  1705  at  the  age  of  seventy,  after 
having  held  high  ecclesiastical  offices  which  were 
gained  even  more  by  his  sterling  spirituality  of  life 
and  teaching  than  by  his  remarkable  eloquence. 
Spener,  while  adopting  in  the  religious  instruction 
of  his  flock  sensible  methods  adapted  to  the  experi- 
ence of  children  and  unlettered  people,  strove  with 
great  zeal  to  make  religion  a  matter  of  the  heart  not 
less  than  of  the  intellect,  as  it  had  then  too  exclusive- 
ly become,  by  treating  it  pedagogically  after  the 
pattern  of  our  Saviour. 

His  spiritual  successor,  Augustus  Hermann 
Francke,  w^as  born  at  Lu- 
beck  in  1663  of  respectable 
parentage.  He  was  early 
left  an  orj^han ;  received 
his  gymnasial  education  in 
Gotlia,  where  the  notable 
school  reform  then  in  pro- 
gress may  possibly  have 
made  some  impression  uj)- 
on  him  ;  at  the  age  of  fourteen  was  declared  ripe  for 
the  university  ;  and  in  his  nineteenth  year  went  first 
to  the  University  of  Erfurt  and  later  to  that  of  Kiel, 
where  he  spent  three  years  stud3'ing  such  branches 
as  physics  and  botany  in  connection  with  theology. 
Whilst  in  the  university  and  afterward  in  Hamburg, 


FRANCKE,  1663-1727 


ElGltTEENTfi   CENTUUY   CHARACTEMSTICS         261 

he  gained  some  experience  in  teaching  which  had  a 
great  influence  on  his  future  career. 

He  found  himself  disgusted  with  the  cold  scientific 
heartlessness  of  tone  of  the  theology  and  the  religious 
teaching  which  then  prevailed,  but  after  a  i)eriod  of 
deep  religious  doubt  and  conflict  he  attained  inward 
peace  in  believing  in  a  religion  which  embraced 
both  head  and  heart ;  and  partly  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Spener,  he  was  imbued  with  that  spirit  of 
practical  religious  zeal  which  issued  in  Pietism. 

The  name  Pietists  given  to  the  followers  of  Francke 
at  first  in  derision,  as  the  name  Methodists  was  later 
given  in  England  to  men  full  of  religious  zeal,  pres- 
ently ceased  to  have  any  satirical  meaning,  and  be- 
came a  mere  descriptive  term.  After  a  few  years 
disturbed  by  petty  persecutions,  Francke  w^as  called 
to  Halle  in  1692  by  the  influence  of  Spener,  as  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  the  Oriental  languages  in  the 
new  university  which  was  about  to  be  founded  there, 
assuming  also  the  charge  of  a  suburban  church  ; 
and  there  he  remained  till  his  death  in  1727. 

The  formation  of  tliat  wonderful  series  of  educa- 
tional and  benevolent  institutions,  which  now  con- 
stitutes his  fit  monument,  as  well  as  the  chief  orna- 
ment of  Halle,  was  begun  in  the  humblest  way  in 
1695.  Pity  for  the  misery  and  semi-barbarism  of  the 
poor,  both  of  which  were  aggravated  by  their  dense 
ignorance,  inspired  him,  when  he  had  found  a  con- 
siderable gift  in  the  alms-box  for  the  poor,  to  start 


262       THE  History  of  MoDfiRisf   EDtf cation 

with  this,  in  his  own  house,  a  school  for  poor  children, 
taught  by  an  indigent  student  of  the  university. 
This  school  rapidly  increased  ;  the  children  of  well- 
to-do  citizens  were  admitted  to  it  for  pay ;  presently 
it  was  found  needful  to  separate  the  poor  children 
from  the  wealthier  ones ;  some  sons  of  nobles  ap- 
plied for  admission,  and  separate  arrangements  were 
made  for  them ;  provision  was  added  for  a  few 
or|)han  children  ;  and  all  these,  under  the  creative 
benevolence  of  Francke,  which  by  its  wisdom  and 
unselfishness  attracted  large  gifts  from  many  quar- 
ters, became  the  germs  of  great  future  institutions 

The  poor  school  developed  into  what  would  now 
be  called  a  Biirger  school ;  the  school  for  a  richer 
class,  into  a  Latin  school  or  Gymnasium  ;  the  school 
for  nobles  into  what  was  called  a  Piidagogium  ;  and 
the  provision  for  a  few  orphans  into  Francke's 
Orphan  House.  To  these  were  added,  as  means 
would  permit,  a  free  table  for  poor  students  of  the 
university,  an  oriental  college,  and  an  asylum  for 
widows ;  and,  as  sources  of  income,  an  apothecary 
shop,  a  bookstore,  and  a  printing-house  from  whose 
presses  have  issued  millions  of  cheap  copies  of  the 
Bible  and  other  books. 

All  this,  it  should  be  remembered,  was  accomp- 
lished by  the  efforts  of  one  man,  himself  poor,  but 
whose  ftiith  attended  by  wise  action  proved  a  power 
to  attract  the  aid  of  the  rich  ;  who  at  first  relied 
wholly  for  the  means  to  support  his  poor  dependents, 


EIGHTEENTH  CENTtJUY  CHARACTERISTICS      ^63 

and  to  erect  buildings  for  their  accommodation,  on 
the  seemingly  casual  gifts  of  the  benevolent,  which 
he  accounted  providential ;  and  who,  besides  the 
oversight  of  these  great  enterprises,  did  duty  as 
pastor  of  a  church,  and  professor  in  the  University 
of  Halle. 

When  Francke  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  the 
pupils  in  his  three  schools  numbered  over  2,200, 
besides  whom  the  teachers,  inspectors,  servants,  and 
other  employes  made  over  300  more.  In  the  citi- 
zen school,  besides  the  usual  elementary  branches, 
history,  geography,  and  natural  history  were  taught ; 
in  the  Gymnasium,  besides  Latin,  Greek,  and  He- 
brew, instruction  was  given  in  mathematics,  history, 
music,  and  geography ;  and  the  Piidagogium  was 
provided  with  a  botanical  garden,  a  cabinet  of  nat- 
ural history,  physical  apparatus,  a  chemical  and 
anatomical  laboratory,  and  a  workshop  for  turning 
and  for  glass-cutting.  Especial  attention  is  called 
to  this  list  of  subjects  and  appliances  in  Francke's 
schools,  because  it  shows  the  very  considerable  atten- 
tion that  was  given  to  what  the  Germans  term  Real 
studies,  and  testifies  to  a  noteworthy  comprehension 
of  what  is  the  right  way  to  present  such  studies.  It 
was  this  feature  of  these  schools  through  which  they 
became  the  precursors  of  the  Real  school  movement 
by  which  Germany  continues  to  be  so  deeply  stirred, 
and  which  has  spread  to  other  countries,  our  own 
among  the  number. 


264         THK    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

A  second  notable  feature  of  Francke's  organization, 
was  the  provision  which  he  made  for  some  prehnii- 
nary  training  of  a  professional  kind  for  those  who 
were  to  teach  in  his  schools.  The  teachers  were 
taken  from  the  students  of  the  university,  and  as  the 
numbers  in  the  schools  increased,  the  force  of  that 
truth  which  Ratich  had  proclaimed  douljtless  became 
manifest,  that  teacln'ng  is  an  art  that  must  bo  learned 
beforehand  to  some  extent,  or  else  acquired  at  the 
expense  of  pupils,  and  too  often  with  irremediable 
harm  to  them.  Hence  in  1707  Francke  formed  a 
kind  of  Teachers'  Seminary  for  those  who  should 
afterwards  teach  in  his  schools,  in  which  for  two 
years  they  were  trained  and  boarded  free  of  cost,  on 
their  pledge  to  teach  afterwards  in  his  institutions 
for  at  least  three  years. 

In  training  these  men,  he  laid  great  emphasis  on 
combining  with  instruction  also  education,  i.  e.,  care- 
ful moral  and  religious  training  ;  also  on  order  and 
method,  on  care  for  the  pupil's  individuality,  and  on 
a  conversational  and  developing  procedure  instead 
of  the  prevailing  mode  of  formal  exposition.  Thus 
I  apprehend  that  he  did  more  than  had  ever  before 
been  done  to  establish  a  permanent  teachers'  voca- 
tion, and  became  the  forerunner  of  the  Teachers' 
Seminaries  which  during  the  century  began  to  spring 
up  in  Germany.  This  is  said  remembering  what 
the  Jesuits  had  already  done  in  this  direction,  but 
remembering   also   that   with   them   teaching   was 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       265 

merely  a  stage  iu  the  period  of  the  novitiate,  and 
mostly  ended  with  the  full  admission  of  the  novices 
into  the  order. 

A  third  peculiarity  of  Francke's  institutions  was 
that  which  gave  to  him  and  his  adherents  the  name 
Pietists.  They  were  "especially  characterized  by 
their  prevailing  Christian  or  perhaps  Pietistic  ele- 
ment, which  appears  in  their  many  devotional  exer- 
cises, in  the  neglect  of  the  Greek  classics  for  the  New 
Testament,  and  in  the  study  of  Hebrew  for  the 
understanding  of  the  Old  Testament."  A  less 
friendly  account  says  :  "  They  heaped  devotion  on 
devotion.  At  every  opportunity  there  was  prayer, 
preaching,  exhortation,  and  singing."  It  was  alleged 
that  by  the  emphasis  laid  on  religious  exercises  the 
secular  studies  were  somewhat  neglected,  or  at  least 
unduly  belittled  in  comparison  with  the  attention 
that  was  paid  to  the  soul's  welfare.  Though  it  is 
possible  that  this  is  somewhat  overstated  for  the 
schools  during  Francke's  time,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  under  Ids  successors,  in  whom  religious 
zeal  was  not  tempered  by  his  strong  j)ractical  sense, 
his  religious  ideas  were  j^ushed  even  to  caricature. 

It  is  also  mentioned  as  another  peculiarity  of 
these  schools  that  i)upils  occu^^ied  places  in  different 
classes  or  grades  according  to  their  progress  in  differ- 
ent studies  :  e.  g.,  they  might  be  in  a  fifth  year  class 
in  Latin,  and  in  a  second  or  third  year  class  in 
mathematics,  or  vice  versa. 


266         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATIOK* 

It  may  be  readily  imagined  that  the  zealous  young 
men  trained  in  Francke's  schools  would  be  likely, 
wherever  they  went  as  teachers,  to  disseminate  his 
ideas  and  make  them  widely  influential  in  education. 
How  real  and  how  important  was  this  influence, 
becomes  apparent  in  the  rise  of  the  Real  School  idea, 
and  the  springing  up  of  Teachers'  Seminaries,  in 
both  which  movements  Francke's  men  were  leaders. 

(2)  "VVe  have  seen  the  practical  direction  of  studies 
in  Francke's  schools,  which  ran  parallel  with  the 
emphasis  laid  on  religious  exercises,  and  which  was 
manifested,  not  only  in  the  introduction  of  studies 
properly  called  Real,  and  in  the  observational  way 
in  which  they  were  to  be  taught,  but  also  in  the 
purely  practical  ends  that  were  proposed  in  the  study 
of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  that  they  might  be  used  for  the 
better  understanding  of  the  Scriptures.  Francke's 
aim  in  education  was  "  Godliness  and  Prudence  ;  " 
and  to  the  latter  corresponded  the  practical  direction 
of  studies  in  which  was  inclosed  the  germ  of  the 
Real -school  movement. 

In  this  more  practical  direction  of  studies,  Francke 
by  no  means  stood  alone.  The  university  of  Halle, 
as  is  shown  by  its  list  of  studies  outlined  by 
Paulsen*  was  a  centre  of  influence  in  this  respect, 
where  the  free-thinking  Thomasius  was  in  intellectual 
sympathy  with  the  Pietist  Francke,  and  where 
Christian    Wolfe   became   famous,    tlirough   wdiose 

*  Gech.  des  Gel.  Unt.,  p.  361. 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTTTrV    rHARACTERISTICS      267 

compends  "  Philosophy  learned  to  talk  German  and 
found  access  to  general  culture." 

Associated  with  Francke  in  his  work  was  Christo- 
pher Semler,  who  early  showed  a  marked  preference 
for  practical  studies,  and  had  in  1706  received  a 
strong  endorsement  of  his  ideas  from  the  Berlin 
Society  of  Sciences.  The  name  Real  school  seems 
to  have  been  first  used  by  Semler  in  1739  in  a  report 
on  his  "  mathematical,  mechanical,  and  economic 
Real  school  in  Halle,"  in  which  he  designates  as  the 
subjects  of  such  a  school,  besides  religion,  which  as  a 
Pietist  he  would  naturally  emphasize,  "  the  useful 
and  in  daily  life  wholly  indispensable  sciences," 
like  mathematics,  drawing,  geography,  history 
natural  history,  agriculture,  etc.,  in  which  he  lays 
stress  on  the  observational  treatment  of  the  various 
subjects.  It  is  obvious  that  the  ideas  of  Comenius 
have  struck  root,  and  that  his  text-books,  especially 
the  Orbis  Pictus,  are  beginning  to  bear  fruit. 

In  more  than  one  high  educational  quarter,  at 
about  this  time,  we  find  complaints  of  the  lack  of 
adaptation  of  studies  to  the  destination  of  pupils. 
A  single  example  must  suffice.  In  1742,  Schottgen, 
rector  of  a  school  in  Dresden,  after  complaiiiing  that 
schools  are  arranged  with  a  view  to  learning  Latin, 
and  that  children  who  are  destined  to  business 
careers  are  forced  to  learn'  Latin  which  is  useless  to 
them,  to  the  neglect  of  what  would  be  useful  to 
mechanics,  artists,  or  merchants,  advises  tiiat  special 


^6<S  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

classes  be  organized  for  such  pupils.  He  ends  by  say- 
ing "I  know  my  proposal  is  already  rejected  before 
it  has  been  brouglit  to  light ;  but  if  what  there  is  in 
it  is  not  yet  ripe,  we  will  wait  until  the  time  for  it 
arrives."  This  is  but  a  specimen  of  an  educational 
feeling  of  mingled  discontent  and  expectation  that 
was  constantly  growing  stronger,  and  of  which  the 
Real  school  movement  was  one  expression. 

The  first  Real  school  of  any  note  was  established 
in  Berlin  in  1747  by  Johann  Julius  Hecker,  an 
adherent  of  the  ideas  of  Francke  ;  and  in  the  suc- 
ceeding year  there  was  added  to  it  a  seminary  for 
teachers.  Like  most  new  enterprises,  this  school  and 
those  which  followed  it  fell  into  errors  and  extrava- 
gances, the  most  serious  of  which  was  the  great 
multiplicity  of  the  studies  that  were  attempted  to  be 
presented,  insomuch  that  not  less  than  eleven  hours 
per  day  were  required  for  school  work  ;  there  was  also 
an  effort  to  educate  for  special  callings.  With  time 
and  experience,  however,  such  schools  have  fitted 
themselves  into  a  place  in  the  school  system  of 
Germany,  as  schools  of  modern  culture  parallel  to 
the  schools  of  classical  training,  and  what  has  recently 
occurred  in  Prussia  would  indicate  that  their  modern 
side  is  to  be  specially  emphasized.  The  influence  of 
the  idea  that  underlies  them  has  become  very  ap- 
parent far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Germany. 

(3)  The  movement  for  the  professional  training 
of  teachers  for  their  work  which  was  initiated  in  this 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       269 

century  was  unquestionably  much  the  most  signifi- 
cant educational  fact  in  the  century,  and  fraught 
with  the  most  important  consequences  to  the  future 
of  education.  Hitherto  in  the  world's  history,  men 
had  served  a  long  and  tedious  apprenticeship  to 
various  arts  and  trades,  or  had  labored  years  with 
patience  to  master  the  learning,  the  theory,  and  the 
technique  of  the  several  professions ;  but  curiously 
enough,  the  science  and  the  art  which  comprehends 
in  itself  the  most  effective  mode  of  presenting  and 
mastering  sciences  and  arts,  trades  and  professions, 
had  been  strangely  ignored. 

Sages  and  philosophers  in  all  ages  had  dwelt  im- 
pressively on  the  vigor  and  permanence  of  the  im- 
pressions made  on  young  minds,  and  on  the  decisive 
influence  they  exert  in  shaping  the  whole  tenor  of 
life  and  in  determining  the  destiny  of  human  beings, 
without  appearing  to  have  dreamed  that  the  persons 
to  whom  was  to  be  entrusted  a  task  so  difficult  and 
so  delicate  had  need  of  any  special  training  for  their 
important  duties.  Hence  the  vocation  of  teaching 
had  been  left  wholly  to  chance,  and  as  we  have  seen, 
had  too  often  fallen  into  the  hands  of  those  who, 
with  a  certain  modicum  of  literary  acquirements, 
had  been  found  unfit  for  other  employments. 

Even  tliose  persons  who  were  less  heedless,  had 
adopted  without  due  consideration  one  or  the  other 
of  two  vague  and  baseless  theories,  of  which  one 
made  the  ability  to  teach  successfully  wholly  depend- 


270  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ent  on  knowledge  of  the  subject-matter  to  be  taught, 
as  if  a  knowledge  of  materia  medica,  for  example, 
would  suffice  to  give  skill  in  prescribing  for  various 
human  ailments, — whilst  the  other  rested  on  a  shad- 
owy notion  of  something  analogous  to  animal  instinct, 
called  inborn  capacity  to  teach,  which  displays 
itself  spontaneously,  as  a  dog  barks  or  a  canary  sings. 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  the  chief  merit  of  Ratich 
that  he  clearly  conceived  the  necessity  of  an  art  of 
teaching,  and  his  misfortune  that  he  illustrated  the 
truth  of  his  idea  by  the  disasters  of  his  career.  We 
have  seen  the  success  of  the  Jesuits,  which  was 
largely  due  to  the  care  with  which  they  trained  and 
supervised  the  teachers  in  their  schools.  An  attempt 
was  made  about  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century 
by  the  Grand  Duke  of  Gotha  to  establish  seminaries 
for  the  training  of  teachers  in  his  dominions,  but  it 
succeeded  so  ill  that  it  was  soon  given  up.  Hence 
the  significance  of  Francke's  arrangement  for  train- 
ing teachers,  which  by  its  success  became  the  fore- 
runner of  the  system  of  Teachers'  Seminaries. 

In  1748  Hecker  established  such  a  seminary  in 
connection  with  his  Real  school,  and  in  1753,  this 
was  adopted  by  Frederick  the  Great  as  a  state  insti- 
tution, thus  becoming  one  of  the  first  two  or  three 
public  institutions  for  the  professional  training  of 
teachers.*     From  this  time  forward  the  number  of 

*  Such  a  seminary  seems  to  have  arisen  in  1751,  in  Hanover,— Schmidt, 
Gesch.  der  Pad.  Vol.  III.,  p.  736  ;  and  ibid  p.  513,  it  is  said  that  Fred'k  Wil- 
liam I.  in  1735  founded  at  Stettin  the  first  Prussian  Lehrer-Seminar. 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       271 

such  establishments  rapidly  increased,  so  that  by  the 
end  of  the  century  about  thirty  existed  in  the  various 
German  states. 

Dittes  says  of  them  that  in  the  beginning  and  for 
a  long  time  afterwards  they  were  merely  accessories 
to  other  educational  institutions,  and  that  chief  em- 
phasis was  laid  in  them  on  sectarian  instruction,  on 
agricultural  branches,  and  on  preparing  teachers  to 
be  serviceable  as  organists  and  choristers.  The 
teachers  were  to  be  prepared  to  eke  out  their  sub- 
sistence by  adding  gains  from  other  industries  to 
their  meagre  pay  from  the  schools.  Still  it  was  a 
beginning  of  professional  training,  despite  its  short- 
comings. 

The  term  Normal  School  by  which  teachers'  semi- 
naries are  generally  known  in  America  has  so  far 
not  been  used  for  a  reason  that  will  now  appear. 
The  first  noteworthy  school  to  which  that  name  was 
applied,  was  founded  in  Vienna  in  1771  as  a  model 
school  to  which  was  attached  a  school  for  the  train- 
ing of  teachers.  Its  first  director  says  of  it :  "  Its 
chief  purpose  is  this,  that  it  may  serve  as  an  example 
to  all  other  schools  in  and  around  the  city  and  in  the 
country  ;  that  in  all  other  schools  as  well  the  teach- 
ers as  the  pupils  may  through  it  be  sustained  in  zeal 
and  right  procedure ;  that  especially  both  spiritual 
and  secular  schoolmasters,  who  are  hereafter  to  be 
employed  in  the  instruction  of  youth,  may  in  it  be 
instructed  and  trained  in  the  humanities  ;  and  that 


272  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

these  may  go  out  from  here  even  as  from  a  centre 
into  all  the  schools  of  the  land,  and,  in  accord  with 
the  new  mode  of  teaching  here  acquired,  which  is 
established  and  brought  into  use  in  conformity  with 
nature  and  the  spiritual  powers  of  man,  may  be  able 
to  give  uniform  instruction  to  the  youth  who  are 
intrusted  to  their  care."  * 

This  school  was  obviously  expected  to  exert  its 
influence,  quite  as  much  by  serving  as  a  model  on 
which  other  schools  should  be  formed,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  whose  practice  they  should  shape  their 
methods,  as  by  furnishing  a  few  trained  teachers  to 
the  system.  It  was,  says  Dr.  Dittes,  at  the  same 
time  elementary  school.  Real  School,  and  Teachers' 
Seminary,  and  hence  bore  a  stronger  likeness  to  the 
form  into  which  many  of  our  American  Normal 
schools  have  grown,  than  to  the  Teachers'  Seminaries 
and  Training  colleges  of  Europe. 

Besides  these  schools  for  the  training  of  teachers 
chiefly  for  the  elementary  schools,  provisions  began 
to  be  made  in  this  century  for  the  professional  prepa- 
ration of  teachers  for  the  secondary  schools,  by  the 
establishment  in  some  of  the  German  universities  of 
"seminaries,"  and  lectures  on  the  teaching  of  Ger- 
man and  the  classic  languages  and  on  pedagogic 
matters  in  general.  The  account  which  Paulsen 
gives  of  Gesner's  pedagogic  Seminar,  in  the  newly- 
founded  university  of  Gottingen,  and  of  the  motives 

*  Dittes.  Gescb,  der  Erziebung  und  des  Unterrichts,  p.  217. 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS      273 

wliicli  prompted  it,  is  so  interesting  and  so  much  to 
the  i)oint,  that  I  give  it  with  httle  abbreviation. 

After  stating  that  "  the  universally  felt  want  was 
teachers  better  prepared  for  their  calling,"  he  quotes 
the  opinion  of  Buddaeus  that  "the  origin  of  the 
whole  evil  lies  in  the  fact  that  men  are  placed  in 
charge  of  the  schools  who  are  better  fitted  for  any- 
thing else  than  for  teaching,  who  are  indeed  in  a 
condition  neither  to  think,  nor  to  live,  nor  even  to 

speak  correctly." "  The  weightiest  cause,  however, 

is  that  the  universities  almost  wholly  neglect  the 
preparation  for  the  teachers'  calling.  AVhat  the 
theologue,  or  the  jurist,  or  the  university  professor 
needs  is  taught  in  the  university,  but  not  what  the 
schoolmaster  needs.  Men  must  therefore  be  taken 
for  school  offices  who  have  been  prepared  for  other 
callings." 

Moved  by  these  considerations,  about  1738  Gesner 
established  in  Gottingen  a  pedagogic  seminar,  and 
conducted  it  himself  nearly  twenty-five  years.  "  The 
introductory  direction  of  the  school  ordinance  desig- 
nates as  the  end  of  the  institution  '  to  furnish  good, 
well-prepared  teachers,  of  which  there  is  a  lack  in 
most  places,  and  to  that  end  to  permit  a  certain 
number  of  such  men  who  devote  themselves  to  the 
teacher's  vocation,  to  be  guided  in  our  university  to 
their  school  studies,  so  that  to  those  who  have  to 
occupy  school  offices,  or  on  the  other  hand  to  seek  out 
good  teachers  for  their  children,  opportunity  may  be 


274  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

offered  to  meet  with  such.' The  business  of  the 

seminar  was  the  training  not  of  learned  theologians 
but  of  schoolmasters,  as  appears  from  its  entire 
arrangement.  The  members,  nine  in  number,  were 
theologues  ;  but  besides  their  theological  course, 
they  were  bound  to  pursue  a  philosophical  course 
embracing  all  the  branches  of  the  philosophic  faculty, 
mathematics,  physics,  history,  and  geography. 

"  The  philosophic  studies  in  the  narrower  sense, 

the  director  of  the  Seminar  presented  to  them, 

and  caused  them  once  a  week  to  dispute  thereupon 
in  Latin.  Farther,  he  presented  to  them,  without 
excluding  other  things,  in  two  hours  daily  a  general 
instruction  on   the   art   of  teaching  (Informations- 

werk) ; Latin  and  Greek  grammar  with  constant 

reference  to  school  instruction  ;  in  the  same  way 
Latin  and  Greek  authors  to  show  their  proper  school 
treatment ;  and  also  the  most  needful  things  out  of 
rhetoric,  poetics,  and  antiquities.  Finally,  that  the 
seminarists  might  have  a  chance  to  put  their  own 
hands  to  the  Informationswerk,  they  were  admon- 
ished to  seek  everywhere  intercourse  with  children, 
and  in  especial  were  to  be  admitted  to  give  some 
instruction  in  the  schools  of  Gottingen." 

The  example  of  Gesner  was  followed  by  not  a  few 
of  the  universities,  the  lectures  on  pedagogy  as  an 
art  being  sometimes,  if  not  always,  given  by  the 
professor  of  philosophy.  Thus  the  pedagogic  lec- 
tures of  the  celebrated  Kant  near  the  close  of  the 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       275 

century,  were  given  as  a  natural  adjunct  to  his  phil- 
-osophic  work.  These  we  shall  have  occasion  to 
examine  later. 

Thus  during  the  18th  century,  we  see  the  definite 
beginnings  of  professional  training  for  teachers  of 
both  higher  and  lower  schools,  and  its  adoption  as 
an  affair  of  the  state.  It  has  not  yet  assumed  very 
great  proportions,  has  by  no  means  become  ideal  in 
its  character,  and  is  almost  entirely  confined  to 
Germany  and  Austria ;  but  from  this  significant 
beginning,  it  has  spread  widely  during  the  present 
century  to  all  parts  of  Europe  and  America,  and  in 
the  last  two  decades  has  caused  the  foundation  of 
chairs  of  pedagogy  in  several  Scottish  and  American 
universities. 

(4)  The  change  in  the  spirit  of  university  work 
which  began  during  the  18th  century  in  the  univer- 
sities of  Germany,  and  which  has  spread  thence  till 
it  is  now  recognized  as  the  genuine  modern  univer- 
sity spirit,  together  with  the  change  which  was 
wrought  in  the  entire  spirit  and  idea  of  humanistic 
instruction,  deserves  to  be  considered  as  a  very  note- 
worthy characteristic  of  the  educational  history  of 
the  century.  In  the  one  change  Halle  was  the  leader, 
in  the  other  Gottingen. 

Although  universities  had  been  centuries  in  exist- 
ence, they  had  not  yet,  it  might  be  said,  attained 
their  intellectual  and  spiritual  majority.  They  had 
not  hitherto  so  far  freed  themselves  from  depend- 


276  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

ence  on  the  ideas  of  the  past  as  to  assume  a  position 
of  independent  leadership  in  the  various  realms  of 
investigation  and  of  thought.  In  freeing  themselves 
from  the  domination  of  scholasticism,  they  had 
passed  under  the  wiser  and  more  elevating  domi- 
nation of  the  master  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;  and 
in  exchanging  scholasticism  for  humanism,  they 
had  rather  changed  masters,  than  rid  themselves  of 
the  spirit  of  subordination.  Aristotle  and  Cicero 
took,  with  them,  the  thrones  vacated  by  Peter  the 
Lombard,  Duns  Scotus,  and  Thomas  Aquinas. 

But  in  1711,  Gundling  in  Halle,  in  a  public  dis- 
sertation propounded  the  question,  "  What  is  the 
office  of  the  university?"  and  boldly  answered  it  in 
this  wise  ; — the  true  office  of  the  university  is  "to 
guide  to  the  capability  of  distinguishing  truth  from 
.  falsehood which  is  impossi])le  if  any  limits  what- 
ever are  set  to  free  investigation."  It  was,  says 
Paulsen,  "  an  unheard-of  speech."  It  gave  the  first 
definite  formulation  of  the  modern  university  spirit : 
the  spirit  of  independence  in  piiilosophizing,  and  of 
freedom  in  the  investigation  of  all  possible  questions 
and  in  declaring  the  result  of  one's  own  free  thought 
and  research. 

Before  the  close  of  the  century,  nearly  all  of  the 
universities  show  a  profound  change  from  the  olden 
lack  of  independence  "  in  the  direction  of  a  free  and 
independent  scientific  investigation  ;  "  and  a  curious 
index  of  the  change  is  the  displacement  of  Melanch- 


ElfiHTRENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS      277 

tliou,  the  16  century  "preceptor  Germanise,"  whose 
compends  merely  formulate  the  acquisitions  of  the 
past,  by  Christian  Wolf,  "professor  Germania?,"  to 
whom  ''Reason  is  the  sole  and  final  judge  of  true 
and  false,  and  who  asks  us  not  to  beheve,  but  to 
doubt,  to  test,  and  finally  to  gain  conviction  solely 
by  the  necessity  of  reason." 

While  this  elevating  change  in  the  spirit  of  the 
universities  was  radiating  from  Halle,  a  change 
equally  significant  for  the  future  of  the  secondary 
schools,  in  the  entire  spirit  of  humanistic  instruction 
and  the  ideas  by  which  it  was  actuated,  was  begin- 
ning at  Gottingen,  of  which  J.  M.  Gesner  was  the 
leading  spirit.  During  the  preceding  century  human- 
istic studies  had  degenerated  into  mere  language 
study,  pursued  for  style,  or  as  a  means  of  access  to 
the  sources  of  theology  and  law.  Authors  were 
read,  not  to  clarify  taste,  nor  to  widen  knowledge, 
but  to  increase  the  stock  of  words  and  turns  of 
expression. 

Ernesti  in  1738  aptly  describes  this  reading  and 
its  results; — "The  stupor  pedagogicus  comes  neces- 
sarily from  the  reading  of  the  ancients  when  it  is 
directed  exclusively  to  style.  We  see  then  in  them, 
not  at  all  what  is  said,  how  it  is  said,  with  what 
skill  and  elegance  it  is  said,  but  merely  formulse  of 
expression  which  are  treasured  up  for  future  use. 
Thus  it  happens,  as  I  have  observed  in  many  cases, 
that  when  pupils  have  read  a  work  and  can  translate 


278         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

it  into  German,  they  are  by  no  means  able  to  state  its 
import  and  the  manner  in  which  it  is  executed  ;  but 
if  you  question  them  on  the  phrases  and  formulae 
that  occur,  they  know  these  thoroughly.  Hence  the 
youth  go  from  the  school  more  stupid  than  they 
enter  it." 

Paulsen,  in  describing  the  Halle  pedagogy  which 
was  typical  of  the  time  says,  "  the  literature  of  the 
ancients  appeared  as  a  tolerably  superfluous  addition 
which  served  merely  to  an  occasional  learned  man 
as  a  quarry  for  polyhistoric  industry  in  collecting." 
Hence  it  is  not  strange  that  men  had  lost  faith  in 
such  studies ;  and  that  they  were  pursued  in  the 
schools  lifelessly  and  joyously  from  custom  as  a  mere 
routine.  It  was  obvious  that  unless  a  great  change 
was  made,  humanistic  study  would  die  of  inanition. 

The  change  that  was  undertaken  by  Gesner  at 
Gottingen,  ably  seconded  by  Ernesti,  his  successor 
in  the  Thomas  schule  in  Leipsic,  was  in  reality  a 
revolution.  The  classic  authors  were  restored  to 
honor  as  masters  of  thought,  instead  of  being  used 
as  illustrations  of  grammar  rules,  or  as  mines  of 
words  and  forms  of  expression  by  working  which 
diligently,  boys  might  be  enabled  to  speak  Latin 
with  tolerable  correctness.  They  were  to  be  used 
rather  to  instil  into  youth  the  qualities  by  which 
they  are  characterized,  or,  as  Ernesti  expressed  it, 
"  that  from  early  youth  we  may  absorb  by  inter- 
course with  the  wisest  and  most  elegantly  cultured 


EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       27^ 

meu,  the  doctrines  of  philosophy  and  worldly  wis- 
dom, whilst  at  the  same  time  learning  at  first  to 
recognize  and  appreciate,  and  then  gradually  to 
appropriate  to  ourselves  their  clearness,  dignity,  and 
grace,  their  sagacity  and  force,  their  elegance  of 
speech  and  propriety  of  statement."  What  was  now 
to  be  aimed  at  was  therefore  the  ability  imagina- 
tively to  live  and  think  with  the  ancient  masters  of 
thought,  and  to  become  thereby  wiser  and  more 
finely  cultured  men. 

To  this  end,  all  the  aids  by  which  the  past  might 
be  restored  to  its  integrity  were  diligently  studied 
and  used  by  Gesner,  by  his  eminent  successor  Heyne, 
and  later  at  Halle  by  F.  A.  Wolfe,  the  father  of 
high  philological  research.  This  influential  trio,  by 
their  own  diligent  efforts,  and  more  effectively  by 
the  great  number  of  thoroughly  trained  teachers 
whom  they  sent  forth  into  the  secondary  schools, 
completely  revolutionized  humanistic  instruction  in 
Germany,  and  placed  it  on  that  firm  footing  which 
it  has  ever  since  retained. 

It  is  not  fitting  to  close  this  notice  of  the  rise  of 
the  new  Humanism,  without  due  mention  of  one 
who  formulated  not  a  few  of  the  arguments  by  which 
humanistic  study  is  wont  to  be  defended  against  at- 
tacks,— Friedrich  Gedike,  who  died  in  1803  before 
reaching  his  fiftieth  year,  director  of  a  famous  school 
in  Berlin.  ''The  ancient  literature,"  he  declares, 
"is  and  remains,  source  of  our  science.     Stop  up 


280  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

the  springs,  and  the  streams  will  run  dry.  No  study  is 
so  fitted  to  awaken  and  to  stimulate  all  the  slumber- 
ing jDowers  of  the  spirit,  to  prepare  the  soul  for  all 
possible  sciences,  as  this,  if  only  it  is  pursued  in  a 
philosophic  way,  and  conformably  to  the  rules  of  a 
right  method."  He  urges  that  if  one  totally  forgets 
his  classics  in  after  life,  he  cannot  lose  that  culture 
and  suppleness  of  spirit  derived  from  them  ;  that 
their  remoteness  in  time  and  in  ideas  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage, "  Since  this  strangeness,  this  transportation 
into  remote  lands  and  times  has  the  greatest  culti- 
vating power  for  the  spirit  "  ;  and  that  the  difficul- 
ties which  grow  out  of  their  remoteness  is  another 
advantage,  since  "they  give  strenuous  exercise  to 
the  powers  and  so  strengthen  them,"  whilst  "  our 
indigenous  literature  affords  pleasure,  but  without 
labor." 

Thus  the  new  Humanism  passes  from  the  18th 
century,  perfected  in  all  its  appointments  for  afford- 
ing an  elegant  and  many-sided  culture,  and  equipped 
with  the  arguments  by  which  it  may  repel  all  future 
attacks  of  educational  Philistines. 


CHAPTER  XI 


V.       IMPORTANT     EDUCATIONAL     TREATISES    OP    THE 
EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

Section    1st.— RoUin 

Of  the  educational  works  that  appeared  in  this 
century,  three  have  a  special  interest,  viz.,  Rollin's 
Treatise  of  Studies,  Rousseau's  Emile,  and  the  lec- 
tures of  Kant  on  Pedagogy  ;  the  first  of  which  is  a 
systematic  treatise  on  belles-lettres  studies  and  moral 
and  religious  training ;  the  second,  an  enthusiastic 
theory  of  education  from  the  standpoint  of  its  author's 
peculiar  ideas,  a  theory,  however,  which  has  had  a 
wide  influence ;  and  the  third,  the  pedagogical 
views  of  one  of  the  greatest  philosophers,  views 
which  are  always  weighty  and  unusually  sugges- 
tive. We  will  consider  these  works  in  the  order  in 
which  they  were  published. 

Charles  Rollin  was  born  in  1661,  and  was  the  son 
of  a  poor  but  resj)ectable 
mechanic  in  Paris.  His  re- 
markable youthful  promise 
caused  him  to  be  educated 
at  the  College  du  Plessis ; 
he  was  appointed  professor 
of  rhetoric  at  the  age  of 
twenty-six  ;  and  was  twice 
elected    to   the    dignity    of 

(281) 


CHARLES  KOLLIN,  1661-1741 


2<S2         THE    HISTORY   OP    MODERX     EDircATION' 

Rector  of  the  university  of  Paris,  in.  wliicli  office  he 
distinguished  himself  by  useful  reforms  in  both 
studies  and  discipline,  that  left  an  enduring  mark 
on  tlie  university.  In  his  later  years,  he  published 
an  Ancient  History,  once  very  famous  and  still 
somewhat  read,  which  was  written  chiefly  with  a 
view  to  the  instruction  of  youth  and  to  vindicate  to 
men  the  ways  of  God  in  history.     He  died  in  1741, 

His  interest  for  us  in  a  history  of  education  cen- 
tres in  his  "  Traite  des  Etudes  ",  which  Villemain 
pronounced  "  a  monument  of  good  sense  and  taste  ", 
and  Voltaire,  "  a  book  forever  useful."  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  most  remarkable  treatise  for  the  time  when 
it  appeared,  1726-28,  and  is  still  worth  the  consid- 
eration of  educators,  not  only  for  the  judiciousness 
of  its  views  on  moral  and  religious  education,  but 
because  he  accompanies  his  suggestions  on  methods 
with  abundant  specifications  and  illustrative  ex- 
amples. The  doctrines  of  the  treatise  have  had  an 
enduring  influence  on  the  French  colleges  ;  and  the 
interest  that  it  attracted  in  England  is  attested  by  a 
translation  into  English  that  I  have  recently  seen 
bearing  a  date  prior  to  1750.  As  the  work  originally 
appeared  it  consisted  of  seven  Books  and  a  Prelim- 
inary Dissertation,  to  which  later  was  added  a  Book 
on  primary  education. 

In  the  Dissertation  and  the  7th  Book  "  On  the 
Internal  Government  of  Classes  and  Colleges,"  Rollin 
gives  at  large  his  views  on  moral  and  religious  edu- 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL    TUKATISES  'ift.'^ 

cation,  most  of  whicli  have  now  bocome  educational 
commonplaces.  A  few  things  will  however  bear 
repetition  even  now.  "  It  is  virtue  only,"  ho  says, 
"  which  fits  men  to  fill  public  positions  rightly.  It 
is  the  good  qualities  of  the  heart  which  give  value  to 
other  qualities,  and  which,  while  making  the  true 
merit  of  the  man,  render  him  also  a  fit  instrument 
for  promoting  the  well-being  of  society."  This  truth 
certainly  is  as  needful  to  be  emphasized  to-day  as 
when  Rollin  uttered  it. 

Again,  with  regard  to  inoral  and  religious  impres- 
sions, he  considers  all  stated  lessons  ineffectual,  since 
they  put  the  young  on  their  guard  and  are  apt  to 
close  their  hearts  ;  while  the  lessons  of  celebrated 
men  in  history  which  occur  in  their  reading,  seem- 
ing to  be  presented  by  chance,  are  unsuspected  and 
may  be  made  effective  by  judicious  remark.  "  Not," 
he  sagaciously  remarks,  "  that  I  believe  it  needful 
to  insist  much  on  moral  reflections.  The  precepts 
which  relate  to  morals  should  be  short  and  sharp, 
and  hurled  like  a  dart.  This  is  the  surest  means 
of  causing  them  to  gain  a  permanent  lodgment  in 
the  soul." 

In  the  counsels  which  he  gives  for  the  training  of 
youth  and  which  he  arranges  under  thirteen  heads, 
he  follows  closely  in  tlie  footsteps  of  Fenelon  and 
Locke  to  both  of  wlioni  he  acknowledges  his  indebt- 
edness ;  but  he  mingles  in  his  treatment  of  their 
common  opinions,  happy  remarks  of  his  own,  one 


2<^4         THE    HISTORV   O^   modern    EDtTCATIOl^ 

of  which  is  worth  quoting  as  a  specimen  of  many  : 
"  The  sovereign  skill  in  education  consists  in  know- 
ing how,  by  a  happy  temperament,  to  ally  a  strength 
which  holds  children  without  repelling  them,  with 
a  gentleness  which  wins  without  softening  them." 

In  turning  now  to  his  discussions  of  studies,  I 
desire  to  call  especial  attention — (1)  to  the  stress 
that  he  lays  upon  the  study  of  the  mother  tongue, 
and  the  means  which  he  proposes  to  acquire  elegance 
in  its  use ;  (2)  to  his  ideas  in  regard  to  the  teaching 
of  Greek  and  Latin  ;  (3)  to  the  emphasis  with  which 
he  recommends  the  study  of  history  and  the  method 
by  which  he  would  have  it  taught ;  and  (4)  to  his 
earnest  recommendation  of  the  training  of  observa- 
tion by  true  object  teaching. 

(1)  Rightly  to  estimate  the  merit  of  Rolliu  in 
what  he  proposes  for  the  cultivation  of  the  mother 
tongue,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  use  of 
one's  vernacular  was  little  practised  in  schools  or 
among  the  learned,  that  RoUin  had  himself  written 
little  save  in  Latin  to  the  age  of  sixty,  and  that  his 
sketch  of  a  method  of  teaching  the  vernacular  was 
probably  the  first  that  was  ever  published  since  the 
scheme  of  Quintilian  in  his  Institutes. 

This  will  be  likely  to  increase  our  admiration  for 
his  pedagogic  sagacity,  since  he  recommends  and 
shows  definitely  how  to  use  every  means  now  em- 
ployed by  tlie  most  enlightened  educators  in  the 
teaching  of  their  mother  tongue,  viz.,  early  care  for 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL    TREATISES  285 

articulation  and  pronunciation,  and  for  the  correct 
use  of  words;  grammatical  study  ;  literature;  trans- 
lation from  other  languages  ;  and  composition. 

In  grammar,  he  advises  that  the  knowledge  of 
principles  should  be  made  progressive,  that  these  be 
carefully  applied  in  the  pu})irs  reading  with  exact 
reasons  for  the  use  of  all  words,  that  the  rules  should 
be  carefully  chosen  with  omission  of  all  that  are  but 
little  used  or  are  beyond  the  comprehension  o«f 
pupils,  and  that  but  little  be  given  each  day  in  a  pleas- 
ing manner  under  the  guise  of  conversation  or  of 
consulting  pui)ils  about  projjcr  forms  of  exjjression. 

As  to  literature,  he  proposes  a  list  of  good  French 
authors  of  his  day,  especially  historians,  which  he 
would  have  read  and  explained  a  half-hour  daily  ; 
and  he  gives  models  of  the  mode  of  exposition,  the 
etymological  and  grammatical  remarks,  the  philolog- 
ical explanations,  the  observations  on  style,  and  the 
moral  reflections  which  might  appropriately  be  intro- 
duced. He  also  makes  the  novel  but  sensible  sug- 
gestion that  when  the  taste  and  judgment  of  youth 
are  somewhat  matured,  it  would  be  well  to  introduce 
brilliant  but  sophistical  authors  for  analysis  and 
criticism. 

Of  translation,  its  difficulties  and  exigencies,  and 
of  the  character  of  good  translations,  he  treats  fully, 
with  many  examples  of  translations  by  good  authors 
compared  with  the  originals,  and  their  merits  or 
defects  pointed   out.     Composition  he  would  have 


286  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

begin  with  brief  stories  or  fables,  advancing  to  letter- 
writing  with  care  for  its  proprieties,  and  this  followed 
by  descriptions  and  narrations  on  familiar  subjects, 
paraphrases  of  passages  from  classic  authors,  and 
finally  free  treatment  of  subjects  suggested  by  the 
pupil's  reading. 

This  is  a  full  and  generous  course  of  study  of  the 
mother  tongue,  so  skilfully  carried  out  and  so  well 
illustrated  by  examples  that  the  best  practice  of 
modern  schools  can  suggest  little  to  improve  it  save 
in  details.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  far 
that  skill  in  the  use  of  their  own  tongue  which  marks 
well-educated  Frenchmen,  is  due  to  the  continuing 
influence  of  the .  course  and  methods  suggested  by 
Rollin. 

(2)  Rollin  lays  little  emphasis  on  Greek,  in  which 
he  thinks  it  sufficient  that  boys  should  be  able  to 
read  authors  understandingly  ;  but,  after  the  man- 
ner of  his  time,  he  deems  it  essential  that  Latin 
should  be  mastered  for  all  the  uses  of  a  current  lan- 
guage. Yet  in  this  he  would  have  the  early  in- 
struction given  in  French,  "  because  in  every  science 
and  in  all  knowledge,  it  is  natural  to  pass  from  a 
thing  known  and  clear  to  one  unknown  and  obscure." 
The  necessary  inflected  forms,  and  the  commonest 
principles  of  syntax,  he  would  have  early  applied 
in  the  reading  of  easy  passages  from  authors  rather 
than  in  attempts  to  write  Latin  as  was  then  common, 
additional  rules  being  supplied  only  so  fast  as  they 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL    TREATISES  287 

are  needed  or  as  fair  occasions  can  be  made  for  their 
use.  The  writing  of  themes  he  would  reserve  for  a 
much  later  stage  of  progress  when  boys  shall  have 
acquired  a  considerable  stock  of  words  and  forms  of 
expression,  requiring  them  however  to  use  what 
they  possess  in  translating  easy  sentences  into  Latin. 

No  haste  is  to  be  made,  since  "  they  will  learn  fast 
enough  if  they  learn  well."  He  proposes  an  order 
for  the  exposition  of  authors  in  advanced  study, 
which,  in  accordance  with  his  unique  but  excellent 
method,  he  illustrates  by  abundant  examples  in 
considerable  passages  from  authors,  that  are  ex- 
pounded as  models  for  students  and  young  profes- 
sors. In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  reforms 
in  classic  instruction  which  he  proj^oses,  are  in  the 
direction  of  that  new  and  enlightened  Humanism, 
which  at  a  little  later  date  began  to  make  its  appear- 
ance in  Germany. 

(3)  The  aim  that  Rollin  proposes  in  the  study  of 
history  is,  "  To  form  the  mind  and  heart  of  youth, 
to  inspire  in  them  a  taste  for  reading  especially  his- 
toric reading,  and  to  make  them  understand  the 
good  they  may  derive  from  it "  ;  and  he  declares 
his  belief  that  when  properly  taught  it  becomes  a 
school  of  morals  for  all  men,  and  hence  is  "the  first 
master  that  should  be  given  to  the  young."  What 
he  considers  right  instruction  in  liMory  will  be 
guided  by  the  following  principles, — to  bring  into 
it  clearness  and  order  by  due  attention  to  geography. 


288  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

and  by  a  proper  frame-work  of  chronology,  with  few 
but  important  dates ;  to  observe  the  customs,  laws, 
ancT  usages  of  nations ;  to  search  most  of  all  for 
truth  ;  to  seek  the  causes  of  events  with  diligence  ; 
to  make  a  careful  study  of  the  characters  of  nations 
and  of  their  great  men  ;  to  observe  whatever  con- 
cerns morals  and  the  proper  guidance  of  life,  and 
especially  what  has  relation  to  religion. 

More  than  a  third  of  his  treatise  is  devoted  to  an 
illustration  of  these  principles,  in  a  series  of  strik- 
ing historic  pictures  drawn  from  ancient  times. 
Nay  more,  deploring  the  lack  of  a  work  on  ancient 
history  suitable  for  youth  in  colleges,  he  supplied 
this  lack  a  few  years  later  by  his  well-known  His- 
tory ;  but,  believing  "  that  the  natural  order  de- 
mands that  in  history  we  advance  from  the  ancient 
to  the  modern,  and  not  deeming  it  possible  to  find 
time  during  the  course  of  the  college  classes  to  study 
that  of  France,"  he  omitted  it.  For  this  Professor 
Compayre  seems  disposed  to  blame  him,  instead  of 
being  thankful  that  a  man  already  seventy  .  years 
old,  undertook  so  much  out  of  a  pure  regard  for  the 
interest  of  youth. 

(4)  What  Rollin  suggests  for  the  training  of  the 
senses  occurs  in  the  6th  Book  of  his  treatise,  under 
the  head  of  Philosophy.  In  this  he  includes  physics 
and  natural  history,  together  with  what  we  now 
understand  by  philosophy.  He  remarks,  "  I  give 
the   name  *  Physics   for   Children ',  to   a   study   of 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL    TREATISES  289 

nature  which  calls  for  little  but  the  use  of  the  eyes, 
and  which  for  this  reason  is  in  the  power  of  every 
one,  even  of  children.  It  consists  in  giving  atten- 
tion to  the  objects  which  nature  presents  to  us,  in 
regarding  them  with  care,  and  in  admiring  their 
various  beauties,  but  without  seeking  into  their  hid- 
den causes,  which  is  the  province  of  the  physics  of 
the  scientist.  I  say  that  even  children  are  capable 
of  this,  for  they  have  eyes,  and  do  not  lack  curi- 
osity." 

He  proposes  a  series  of  object  lessons  drawn  from 
plants  and  animals,  which  he  recommends  to  mingle 
aptly  with  brief  reflections  "  suited  to  form  the 
heart,  and  to  lead  through  nature  to  religion."  He 
crowns  all  this  by  giving  sensible  practical  directions 
to  teachers  how  to  prepare  themselves  for  giving 
these  object  lessons  successfully,  forseeing  every  dif- 
ficulty that  is  likely  to  arise,  and  striving  in  this  as 
in  every  other  branch  he  teaches,  to  make  his  treatise 
a  practical  guide  to  teachers. 

When  we  consider  that,  though  reformers  like 
Comenius  and  Locke  had  for  nearly  a  century  in- 
sisted on  the  proper  use  of  the  senses,  the  scheme  of 
Rollin  is  doubtless  the  first  definite  proposal  of  a 
means  pleasant  and  not  over-loaded  to  accom})lish 
a  purpose  long  considered  desirable,  and  that  it  is 
even  so  well  conceived  that  it  might  now  be  profit- 
ably copied,  we  shall  find  new  occasion  to  admire 
the  pedagogical  sagacity  of  its  author. 


290  THE   HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

Finally,  what  we  ought  especially  to  admire  in 
Rollin  is  the  spirit  of  j^ractical  pedagogic  helpful- 
ness that  characterizes  every  part  of  his  treatise.. 
Like  the  skilful  architect,  he  accompanies  all  his 
plans  with  clear  and  definite  specifications.  Whether 
in  moral  teaching,  or  in  the  various  belles-lettres 
branches,  or  in  the  training  of  the  senses,  he  illus- 
trates all  the  plans  he  proposes  with  examples  so 
numerous,  so  wisely  chosen,  and  so  thoroughly  pre- 
sented, as  to  make  easy  their  adoption  by  young 
professors.  In  this  he  certainly  had  no  predeces- 
sors among  writers  on  education  ;  nor  since  his  day 
have  there  been  many  who,  in  this  respect,  have 
equalled  him. 

Section  2d. — Rousseau 

There   are   few   educational   books   which   have 
aroused    more    interest    or 
been  read  more  extensively 
or  exerted   more   influence 
than    Rousseau's   E  m  i  1  e . 
There  is  certainly  none  in 
which  the  reader  has  need 
of    greater   judgment    and 
more  constant  care,  that  he 
may  disentangle  the   valu-         rousseau,  1712-1778 
able  educational  truths  it  presents  from  the  maze  of 
brilliant  sophisms  and  striking  paradoxes  in  which 
they  are  often  enveloped,  and  which  are  the  more  dan- 

i 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  EDUCATION    291 

gerous  because  the  author  himself  evidently  presents 
them  in  good  faith,  and  urges  them  with  an  elegant 
warmth  and  grace  that  few  can  wholly  resist.  Nor 
is  there  any  other  work  on  education  of  which  it  is 
so  difficult  to  give  a  brief  but  satisfactory  account, — 
an  account  that  shall  fairly  present  the  author's 
most  prominent  ideas  with  something  of  his  own 
coloring,  emphasizing  that  to  which  he  gives  em- 
phasis, and  overlooking  no  important  error,  yet  being 
blind  to  no  important  truth. 

This  difficulty  arises  in  part  from  his  carelessness 
about  consistency  ;  but  still  more  from  the  fact  that 
his  plan  of  carrying  an  individual  presented  under 
the  name  of  Emile  through  what  he  considers  a 
typical  course  of  normal  development,  from  infancy 
to  adult  years,  not  stopping  even  with  his  marriage, 
but  exhibiting  the  results  supposed  to  follow  from 
such  a  training  when  his  hero  falls  into  divers  un- 
looked-for misfortunes, — gives  opportunity  to  this 
erratic  genius  to  discuss  all  kinds  of  social,  political, 
moral,  and  religious  questions,  which  he  introduces 
so  ingeniously  that  they  seem  wholly  germane  to 
the  pedagogic  matter  in  hand,  but  end  often  by 
wholly  obscuring  it. 

It  is  easy  to  select  a  certain  number  of  maxims 
from  Rousseau,  or  even  sometimes  to  cull  their 
opposites,  and  to  call  them  his  fundamental  peda- 
gogic ideas.  This  a  number  of  persons  have  done, 
but  without  any  very  close  agreement  on  what  is 


292  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

fundamental.  Von  Raumer  more  wisely  has  at- 
tempted an  abstract  quoted  in  the  author's  own  words 
under  proper  heads,  but  no  abstract  however  fairly- 
made,  can  give  a  just  representation  of  Rousseau. 
There  is  in  the  Emile  little  of  educational  value 
which  is  absolutely  new ;  yet  Rousseau,  possesses  in 
a  transcendent  degree  the  art  of  so  presenting  and 
enforcing  old  truths  that  they  impress  themselves  on 
the  mind  as  they  had  never  done  before,  and  pro- 
duce all  the  effect  of  novelty.  In  this  sense  he  may 
be  said  to  have  effectually  rediscovered  and  taken 
possession  of  several  pedagogic  regions  which  had 
before  been  sighted  rather  than  appropriated.  The 
pity  is  that  he  has  so  often  marred  the  happy  islands 
on  which  he  plants  his  standard  by  peopling  them 
with  chimeras. 

Who  then  was  this  Rousseau,  and  through  what 
experiences  was  he  qualified  to  produce  a  work  which 
has  doubtless  had  great  influence  on  more  recent 
educational  history  ?  He  was  born  in  Geneva  in 
1712,  his  father  who  was  a  watchmaker  being  of 
French  origin,  and  apparently  not  distinguished  for 
honesty.  Deprived  from  infancy  of  a  mother's  care, 
he  grew  up  under  the  charge  of  an  aunt,  a  volatile 
and  sensitive  child,  feeding  his  young  fancy  with 
romances,  none  of  which  he  understood,  as  he  says, 
but  all  of  which  he  felt.  He  was  apprenticed  first 
to  an  attorney  and  then  to  an  engraver,  but  showed 
no  capacity  for  either  employment.     From  the  latter 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL   TREATISES  293 

he  ran  away,  and  henceforth  his  Ufe  was  unsettled 
and  homeless.  He  was  for  a  time  in  a  Catholic 
school,  and  became  a  Catholic,  renouncing  this  faith 
later  when  he  had  gained  distinction  for  Protestant- 
ism, but  reflecting  no  credit  on  either.  He  entered 
for  some  time  the  service  of  a  nobleman  who  strove 
to  educate  him  for  a  higher  position.  Then  from 
the  age  of  twenty-one  he  lived  for  some  years  with 
Mme.  de  Warens,  where  he  pursued  with  great  zeal 
philosophic  and  political  studies,  gained  some 
knowledge  of  Latin,  and  acquired  that  store  of 
materials  of  which  later  he  made  such  brilliant  use. 
It  is  needless  to  go  into  detail  on  the  steps  of  his 
erratic  and  unhappy  career.  Whatever  of  pedagogic 
experience  he  had  was  gained  in  a  few  years  as  tutor 
in  a  family  ;  but  he  seems  always  to  -have  been  a 
keen  observer  of  human  nature,  especially  as  exhib- 
ited in  the  young,  for  which  his  sensitive  tempera- 
ment peculiarly  fitted  him ;  and  to  this  his  Emile 
owes  much  of  whatever  pedagogic  value  it  possesses. 
Yet  with  all  his  keen  perception  of  child  character 
and  child  modes  of  gaining  knowledge,  he  showed 
no  love  for  his  own  five  children  ;  for  he  sent  them 
one  after  the  other,  as  soon  as  they  were  born,  to  a 
foundling  hospital,  leaving  no  marks  by  which  they 
might  afterwards  be  identified  and  reclaimed.  This, 
and  many  other  discreditable  circumstances  of  his 
unsettled  life,  we  know  from  his  astonishing  "  Con- 
fessions ",  in  which  they  were  detailed  with  amaz- 


294        THE   HISTORY   OP   MODERN    EDUCATION 

ing  frankness  and  often  with  bitter  self-reproaches. 
Yet  he  considers  himself  a  being  innocent  of  wrong 
because  his  intentions  were  always  good,  but  that  he 
was  greatly  maltreated  by  fortune  and  by  false 
friends. 

Despite  all  the  errors  and  miseries  of  his  career, 
he  gained  high  reputation  as  a  brilliant  and  versa- 
tile writer.  Besides  his  Confessions,  and  the  Emile 
which  is  his  most  enduring  work,  he  wrote  sev- 
eral philosophic  and  political  treatises  which  at- 
tracted much  attention  in  that  excited  period,  and 
which  are  thought  by  some  to  have  hastened  the 
French  Revolution,  whose  approach  he  predicted  in 
the  3d  Book  of  the  Emile  while  urging  the  claims 
of  manual  employments  on  the  sons  of  high-born 
families.  It  is  more  probable  that  his  treatises  are 
rather  symptoms  of  the  deep-seated  disease  which 
was  silently  but  surely  eating  out  the  life  of  the 
French  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  than  influential 
causes  of  that  bloody  tragedy.  His  melancholy 
career  ended  in  1778,  not  mthout  suspicions  of  suicide, 

The  chief  pedagogic  merit  of  the  Emile,  in  my 
opinion,  is  to  be  found  in  these  four  things  :  viz.,  (1) 
that  it  is  the  first  noteworthy  study  of  child  nature 
and  child  development  from  a  pedagogicar stand- 
point ;  (2)  that  it  everywhere  emphasizes  the  abso- 
lute importance  of  training  the  senses  and  bodily 
capabilities  as  the  only  sure  basis  of  memory,  judg- 
ment and  understanding  ;  (3)  that  it  gives  hints  and 


IMPORTANT   EDUCATfOftAL  TREATISES  205 

even  more  explicit  directions  for  the  beginning  of 
instruction  from  the  standpoint  of  the  child's  experi- 
ence, in  such  branches  as  geography,  physics,  and 
history,  the  spirit  of  which  methods  has  entered  into 
modern  practice  ;  and  (4)  that  in  the  5th  Book  we 
have  what  Dr.  Dittes  considers  the  best  treatise  that 
has  yet  appeared  on  the  education  of  girls. 

Every  one  of  these  great  merits  is  marred  by 
grave  faults  of  extravagance  and  paradox,  by  graver 
errors  of  opinion  on  points  often  of  vital  moment, 
by  suggestions  of  wholly  impracticable  means,  and 
by  expectation  of  results  whose  realization  would  be 
fatal  to  the  author's  ultimate  purpose.  Hence,  that 
we  may  better  understand  the  cause  of  Rousseau's 
vagaries,  and  so  be  the  better  able  to  discern  and 
appreciate  the  truth  he  delivers,  it  will  be  profitable 
for  us  to  consider  his  most  fundamental  errors  before 
discussing  the  undeniable  merits  that  have  just  been 
named.  We  will  confine  ourselves  to  the  two  that 
are  really  fundamental,  because  they  give  form  and 
coloring  to  his  entire  treatment  of  the  problem  of 
right  education,  and  are  the  source  of  most  of  his 
paradoxes. 

He  sets  out  with  the  postulate  that  "  all  is  good  as 
it  issues  from  the  hands  of  the  Author  of  things  ; 
everything  degenerates  in  the  hands  of  man."  In 
this  he  intends  no  reference  to  the  dogma  of  the  fall 
of  man  and  its  consequences  ;  but  he  means  the  man 
of  any  period,  all  whose  faults,  prejudices,  and  evil 


290         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

inclinations  he  considers  due  to  the  jDcrversion  of 
tendencies  which  originally  were  wholly  good,  by 
influences  exerted  upon  him  by  his  fellow  men,  and 
that  too  mostly  at  an  age  when  he  has  power  neither 
to  resist  nor  to  choose.  We  need  not  pause  to  con- 
sider the  consequences  of  this  doctrine  in  regard  to 
man's  responsibility  for  his  own  mature  acts,  nor  its 
contradiction  of  the  history  of  progressive  human 
advancement  which  on  this  theory  would  have  been 
impossible,  nor  its  contravention  of  the  universal 
opinion  of  mankind  as  ex]3ressed  in  their  actions; 
we  have  only  to  observe  its  effects  on  his  mode  of 
treating  the  education  of  the  young. 

Believing  that  the  native  state  of  man  is  good,  it 
is  a  question  how  to  preserve  his  primitive  goodness, 
and  to  allow  it  to  develop  without  perversion.  Be- 
lieving that  perversion  and  degeneracy  are  due  to 
men  and  society,  it  is  a  question  how  to  j)rotect  the 
child  from  the  malign  influence  of  his  fellows.  Hence 
his  repeated  insistence  on  restoring  the  child  to  "the 
state  of  nature,"  and  his  constant  reference  of  every- 
thing to  this  assumed  state  of  nature.  He  means  by 
this,  not  exactly  the  savage  state,  for  which  in  some 
of  his  writings  he  is  thought  to  betray  a  predilec- 
tion born  of  ignorance,  but  a  fancied  state,  made 
up  of  man's  best  aspirations  after  the  agreeable,  the 
fit,  and  that  which  will  promote  happiness  and  per- 
fection, when  unchanged  by  the  influences  to  which 
he  is  subjected. 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     297 

Hence,  that  this  fancied  state  of  nature  may  be 
secured,  that  naught  may  interfere  with  conformity 
to  these  primitive  dispositions  to  goodness,  and,  in 
short,  to  assure  a  comj^lete  control  of  all  circumstances 
that  may  influence  character, — his  Emile  is  to  be 
isolated  from  his  fellows  until  the  age  of  fifteen  ;  to 
be  reared  in  the  country,  communing  solely  with 
nature,  in  company  with  a  paragon  of  a  tutor  who 
shares  all  with  him  ;  to  be  subjected  to  no  obvious 
control  save  that  which  comes  from  the  invincible 
facts  and  processes  of  nature  ;  to  form  no  habitudes, 
and  to  shape  no  opinions  save  those  which  the 
phenomena  of  nature  cause  spontaneously  to  germi- 
nate within  him  ;  to  gain  no  moral  ideas  save  that 
of  property  as  the  result  of  individual  efforts  ;  and, 
indeed,  "to  lose  time"  rather  than,  in  efforts  to 
utilize  it,  to  run  a  risk  of  thwarting  the  work  of 
nature  in  him. 

Emile  is  not  even  to  know  how  to  read  until  he  is 
twelve  years  old,  when  Rousseau  thinks  that  the 
processes  of  physical  growth  have  so  far  advanced 
as  to  afford  a  relative  surplus  of  energy  which  may 
safely  be  used  for  his  intellectual  development. 
These  are  a  few  of  the  more  obvious  vagaries  into 
which  he  is  led  by  his  idea  of  conforming  education 
to  a  fancied  state  of  nature,  and  thus  promoting 
the  innate  dispositions  to  goodness  ;  but  this  idea 
colors  every  part  of  his  scheme  of  education  for  both 
sexes.  ^ 


298  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

Rousseau's  second  fundamental  error  controls  the 
plan  of  his  work  and  its  division  into  distinct  parts 
or  Books.  It  is  the  assumption  that  within  certain 
tolerably  well-marked  limits  of  age,  certain  capabil- 
ities of  our  nature  so  predominate  as  to  be  practically 
unmixed  with  any  powers  or  tendencies  that  look 
to  more  advanced  stages  for  their  complete  develop- 
ment. Thus  he  conceives  four,  or  more  properly 
five  well-marked  stages  of  development,  forming  the 
five  Books  of  his  treatise. 

The  first  deals  with  the  vegetative  age,  and 
includes  the  care  and  training  of  the  infant  from 
birth  until  it  is  able  to  talk.  The  second  period 
ends  at  the  age  of  twelve,  during  which  it  is  assumed 
that  the  senses  and  the  physical  nature  dominate, 
without  reason  and  certainly  without  moral  ideas ; 
and  this  period  he  would  dedicate  to  securing  physi- 
cal well-being,  to  thorough  training  of  the  senses, 
and  to  permitting  the  child  to  be  acted  upon  by  and 
to  conform  himself  to  the  inter-play  of  nature's 
forces.  In  the  third  period,  between  the  ages  of 
twelve  and  fifteen,  judgment  and  reason  are  sup- 
posed to  make  their  appearance,  and  this,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  suggestive  Books,  is  therefore  dedi- 
cated to  a  scheme  of  rapid  intellectual  development. 

The  fourth  period,  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
twenty,  the  critical  period  as  he  considers  it,  is  that 
in  which,  with  the  awakening  of  the  human  pas- 
sions, he  conceives   that  the   youth   first   becomes 


IMl'ORTANT    EDITOATIONAL   TREATISES  299 

capable  of  moral  and  religious  ideas,  and  hence  that 
moral  and  religious  education  should  here  begin. 
This  fourth  Book  forms  nearly  a  third  of  the  entire 
work,  but  lengthy  as  it  is,  it  is  never  tedious.  It 
abounds  in  passages  of  striking  eloquence,  some  of 
which  have  become  famous,  but  is  marked  by  an 
unusual  abundance  of  his  peculiar  notions.  Some 
of  its  religious  ideas  which  have  been  generally 
condemned,  were  considered  of  so  dangerous  a  ten- 
dency as  made  it  expedient  for  the  author  to  flee 
from  France  to  avoid  imprisonment,  and  caused  the 
book  to  be  publicly  burned  by  the  Protestants  of 
Geneva  as  well  as  by  the  Catholics  of  Paris. 

The  fifth  Book  which  treats  of  female  education 
under  the  name  of  Sophie,  the  future  spouse  of 
Emile,  is  devoted  also  to  the  completion  of  Emile's 
education,  by  his  conceiving  an  ardent  affection  for 
one  of  the  opposite  sex,  by  his  undertaking  foreign 
travel  that  he  may  learn  complete  self-government 
and  gain  the  knowledge  and  experience  essential 
to  the  exercise  of  his  duties  as  a  citizen,  and  by  his 
assumption  of  the  offices  of  husband,  father,  and 
member  of  the  state. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  Rousseau's  scheme  of  educa- 
tion, and  such  the  assumption  on  which  it  is  based. 
And  yet  it  needs  no  unusual  observation  of  children 
and  youth  to  assure  any  one,  not  influenced  by  a 
theory,  that  Rousseau's  idea  of  the  normal  course 
of  human  development  is  wholly  incorrect ;  that,  in 


300         THE    HISTORY   OF   MODERN     EDUCATION 

point  of  fact,  judgment  and  reason  do  not  wait  till 
the  twelfth  year  before  they  can  be  effectually  ap- 
pealed to  in  matters  within  the  range  of  the  child's 
experience  ;  and  that  still  less  is  the  youth  incapable 
of  true  sympathy  or  real  ideas  of  right  and  wrong 
until  the  age  of  puberty  :  indeed,  without  early  sub- 
jection to  authority,  and  without  proper  intercourse 
with  his  fellows,  he  would  be  practically  ignorant  of 
the  natural  relations  on  which  morality  is  based. 

And  yet  it  is  obvious  that  this  erroneous  assump- 
tion gives  the  key  to  the  entire  plan  of  his  work. 
Still  more,  it  colors  largely  his  entire  mode  of  treat- 
ment of  his  scheme  of  education.  For  example,  in 
Book  2d,  he  attacks  Locke's  judicious  maxim  of  using 
reason  with  children,  with  the  argument  that  at  the 
age  of  ten  children  not  only  have  no  apprehension 
of  reason  but  have  no  need  of  training.  "  Reason 
is,"  he  says,  "  the  rein  of  strength,  and  the  child 
has  no  need  of  that  rein.  Let  him  instead  feel 
early  on  his  proud  head  the  hard  yoke  which  nature 
imposes  on  man, — the  heavy  yoke  of  necessity." 
Many  examples  akin  to  this  could  be  cited  to  show 
the  manner  in  which  this  fundamental  error  in- 
fluences his  treatment  of  educational  questions. 

In  my  opinion  the  primal  source  of  most  of  the 
extravagances  which  mar  his  work,  obscure  his 
merits,  and  furnish  to  his  critics  a  fruitful  supply  of 
injurious  quotations,  may  be  found  in  these  two 
erroneous  assumptions  which  we  have  just  consid- 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     301 

ered  ;  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  when  we  see  that 
Rousseau's  chimerical  ideas  do  not  flow  from  mere 
wantonness  and  caprice,  but  are  the  natural  outcome 
of  honest  but  erroneous  convictions  in  a  spirit  so 
fanciful  as  his,  we  shall  gain  a  fairer  view  of  the 
spirit  by  which  he  is  actuated,  and  shall  be  in  a 
better  position  to  pass  a  candid  judgment  on  his 
undeniable  merits.  Moreover,  the  examination  bf 
his  errors  has  afforded  a  convenient  means  to  give 
a  brief  and  connected  view  of  the  plan  and  scope 
of  his  treatise,  any  analytic  discussion  of  which 
would  be  both  tedious  and  confusing.  We  are  now 
in  a  position  to  review  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  his  sub- 
stantial contributions  to  a  sound  pedagogy. 

(1)  In  the  very  preface  of  his  treatise,  he  claims 
as  its  chief  merit  that  it  is  intended  to  be  a  profound 
and  careful  study  of  the  psychology  of  childhood. 
"  We  do  not  know  childhood,"  he  says.  "  From 
the  false  notions  we  have  of  it,  the  farther  we  go 
the  more  widely  we  stray.  The  wisest  men  confine 
themselves  to  what  it  is  important  that  men  should 
know,  without  considering  what  children  are  in  a 
condition  to  understand.  They  always  seek  for  the 
man  in  the  child  without  thinking  of  what  he  is 
before  becoming  a  man.  This  is  the  study  to  which 
I  have  applied  myself  the  most,  so  that  if  my  whole 
method  should  prove  chimerical  and  false,  one  may 
always  set  out  from  my  observations.  I  may  have 
seen  very  ill  what  should  be  done,  but  I  believe  I 


302  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

have  observed  well  the  being  on  whom  we  must 
operate.  Begin  then  by  studying  your  pupils  bet- 
ter, for  very  surely  you  do  not  know  them." 

Again  in  Book  3d  he  exclaims,  "  I  wish  some 
judicious  man  would  give  us  a  treatise  on  the  art  of 
observing  children."  This  wish  has  awaited  its  ful- 
filment until  recent  times,  when  the  trained  intelli- 
gence of  men  like  Perez  and  Taine,  Preyer  and  Charles 
Darwin,  has  been  turned  to  the  operations  of  young 
minds.  To  Rousseau,  however,  is  due  the  credit  of 
having  first  called  definite  attention  to  the  need  of 
such  a  study,  and  of  having  done  something  of 
value  in  it  himself.  The  record  of  this  may  be 
found  in  Book  2d  of  the  Emile,  where  he  treats  of 
the  training  of  the  senses  and  of  teaching  the  child 
by  sense  experiences  his  actual  relation  to  the 
material  world,  its  properties,  and  its  forces. 

Here  also  we  may  justly  admire  his  acuteness  in 
observing  that  the  speech  of  children  has  often  "  a 
different  meaning  for  them  and  for  us,"  a  fact  to 
which  he  rightly  attributes  many  of  the  amusing 
sayings  of  children,  and  which  he  thinks  causes 
errors  sometimes  of  lasting  consequence.  In  this 
connection,  too,  it  may  be  remarked  that  we  owe  to 
Rousseau  a  vigorous  plea  for  care  in  forming  the 
early  speech  of  the  child,  and  in  assuring  a  right 
use  of  the  organs  of  speech.  It  would  be  easy  were 
it  needful  to  multiply  quotations  showing  Rousseau's 
deep  appreciation  of  the  truth  that   any    reliable 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     303 

science  of  education  must  have  its  foundations  in  a 
thorough  study  of  the  operations  of  the  young  intel- 
ligence. 

(2)  Rousseau  was  by  no  means  the  first  to  call 
attention  to  the  importance  of  training  the  senses 
and  bodily  capabilities.  We  have  already  seen  the 
emphasis  laid  on  this  by  Comenius  and  Locke,  and 
that  even  the  cautious  and  conservative  Rollin 
would  have  the  exercise  of  the  senses  cared  for  dur- 
ing the  entire  childhood  and  youth,  and  expects 
from  this  care  noteworthy  results.  But  no  one  before 
nor  since  Rousseau,  not  even  Pestalozzi,  has  like  him 
made  his  entire  scheme  of  education  depend  on  sense 
and  bodily  training,  or  on  the  results  flowing  from 
this. 

He  proposes  that  to  the  twelfth  year  the  entire 
activity  of  the  child  shall  be  given  to  this  kind  of 
training,  no  literary  tasks,  no  learning  even  to  read, 
unless  he  desires  it  for  its  present  obvious  utility, 
but  all  care  to  be  devoted  to  the  senses  and  the 
body,  and  to  their  development.  "  Do  not  exercise 
strength  only,"  he  says,  "but  also  all  the  senses 
which  direct  it ;  derive  from  each  all  the  aid  possible, 
verifying  the  impressions  of  one  by  another  ;  meas- 
ure, count,  weigh,  compare ;  do  not  use  strength 
until  after  having  estimated  resistance,  and  always 
let  the  estimate  of  the  eff'ect  precede  the  means." 

But  besides  this  thorough  cultivation  of  the  senses 
and  muscular  adaptations,  insisted  on  by  him  dur- 


304  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

ing  the  period  of  childhood,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  Ivoussean's  entire  scheme  of  advanced  educa- 
tion presupposes  trained  senses  and  physical  capa- 
bilities obedient  to  the  will,  and  calls  for  their 
thorough  use  as  an  indispensable  means  for  gaining 
usable  knowledge,  the  only  kind  of  knowledge  that 
he  values.  In  this  line  is  his  insistence  on  manual 
training.  It  is  only  within  the  last  score  of  years 
that  efforts  have  been  made  to  give  to  youth  some 
dexterity  in  the  use  of  common  tools  ;  yet  Rousseau, 
adopting  a  suggestion  of  Locke,  urges  manual  train- 
ing at  much  length  and  with  great  eloquence,  not 
only  as  a  useful  means  of  education,  but  also  as  a 
resource  in  unforeseen  misfortunes  ;  and  it  is  in  this 
connection  that  he  makes  his  celebrated  prophecy 
of  the  near  approach  of  an  age  of  political  and 
social  revolutions. 

(3)  In  intellectual  education  as  a^whole,  he  em- 
phasizes all  the  fundamental  principles  which  are 
now  commonly  accepted  in  instruction,  viz.,  thorough 
use  of  the  observing  powers,  the  self-activity  of  pupils 
instead  of  mere  receptivity,  advancement  by  easy 
and  natural  steps,  the  cultivation  of  mental  power 
rather  than  the  loading  of  memory,  holding  the 
interest  of  pupils  by  the  presentation  of  projier  sub- 
ject-matter, the  avoidance  of  over-crowding  and  pre- 
cocity, of  sham  knowledge  and  superficiality,  and 
in  general,  conformity  to  the  powers,  needs,  and  in- 
dividuality of  the  child.     None  of  these  principles 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     305 

was  wholly  new  :  every  one  of  them  had  been  ad- 
vanced by  preceding  Innovators :  but  Rousseau 
vividly  exhibits  them  all  in  action,  and  exemplifies 
their  possibilities  in  the  development  of  the  child. 
In  his  hands  they  are  no  longer  abstract  propo- 
sitions, but  embodied  and  therefore  impressive 
realities. 

Yet  the  exemj)lification  of  these  great  j^rinciples  is 
by  no  means  the  measure  of  his  services  to  intellec- 
tual education.  His  most  significant  addition  to  the 
art  of  instruction,  is  his  suggestion  of  the  methods 
of  teaching  such  subjects  as  geography,  physics,  his- 
tory, civics,  and  drawing.  In  physics,  for  example, 
he  would  begin  w^th  the  observation  of  familiar 
physical  phenomena,  in  which  Emile  does  all  the 
work  and  makes  the  discoveries  with  an  impercepti- 
ble guidance  of  his  tutor,  devising  and  making 
apparatus  to  verify  the  results  of  his  observations, 
and  tlius,  slowly  indeed  but  surely,  reaching  the 
conception  of  physical  uniformities  of  operation,  or 
laws. 

In  the  study  of  geography,  he  would  set  out  from 
the  terrestrial  features  of  the  home  ;  in  history,  from 
biography  ;  in  civics,  from  the  most  familiar  rela- 
tions of  men  to  their  fellows  ;  and  in  drawing,  from 
attempts  at  delineating  common  things  rather  than 
from  copying  pictures  already  made.  Save  in  the 
case  of  history,  the  first  effective  suggestion  of  these 
sensible  modes  of  procedure  seems  to  have  come  from 


306  THE    HISTORY    OF   MODERN    EDUCATION 

Rousseau,  and  their  adoption  marks  an  important 
advance  in  the  art  of  instruction. 

(4)  The  5th  Book  of  the  Emile,  in  which  Rousseau 
gives  his  ideas  of  the  proper  education  of  women, 
has  the  fewest  glaring  faults  and  is  the  most  satis- 
factory part  of  the  entire  treatise.  The  aim  that  he 
proposes  for  this  education,  viz.,  to  fit  women  to 
please  and  interest  man,  to  be  his  complement  and 
fit  companion,  and  to  make  his  home  pleasant,  is 
not  a  very  lofty  one  according  to  some  modern  ideas  ; 
yet  despite  some  faults.  Dr.  Dittes  is  right  in  consid- 
ering it  one  of  the  best  treatises  on  female  education 
that  has  yet  appeared. 

With  his  usual  skill  and  grace  he  draws  the  pic- 
ture of  the  girl  as  she  appears  to  him  to  be  by  nature, 
and  again  as  he  thinks  she  should  be  when  prop- 
erly educated.  Like  Fenelon,  he  objects  to  a  con- 
ventual education  for  girls,  and  for  the  like  reasons. 
Rather  he  would  have  them  educated  at  home  under 
the  eye  of  the  judicious  mother,  by  whose  wise 
guidance  they  should  be  taught  to  know  the  world 
as  it  really  is,  to  penetrate  its  unreality,  and  to  gain 
wisdom  to  avoid  its  allurements.  Home  and  family 
life  are,  in  his  opinion,  the  sphere  of  good  women, 
to  a  taste  for  which  they  should  be  trained  by  the 
example  of  good  mothers,  and  by  a  sweet  home  life 
throughout  their  youth.  For  success  within  this 
sphere  they  should  be  carefully  educated,  by  the 
development  of  taste  that  they  may  please  all  within 


IMPORTANT    EDUCATIONAL    TREATISES  307 

its  circle,  by  acute  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
its  springs  of  action,  that  they  may  manage  with  tact 
in  all  social  relations,  and  by  a  proper  cultivation  of 
intellect  and  heart,  that  they  may  be  interesting 
companions  and  retain  the  enduring  esteem  of  hus- 
bands and  friends  by  their  intelligence  and  unpre- 
tending virtues. 

He  would  have  the  moral  and  religious  education 
of  girls  very  early  begun,  because,  as  he  says,  "  If 
one  waited  until  they  are  able  to  discuss  those  deep 
questions  methodically,  we  should  run  the  risk  of 
never  discussing  them  at  all ; "  which  is  about 
equally  true  of  both  sexes,  though  Rousseau's  pre- 
conceived theory  blinds  him  to  the  fact.  Injustice 
to  him  however  it  should  be  added,  that  he  thinks 
the  religious  beliefs  of  women  are  more  subject  to 
authority,  and  their  conduct  more  subject  to  public 
opinion,  than  is  the  case  with  men  ;  and  that  hence 
it  is  needful  only  to  state  to  them  clearly  what  is  to 
be  believed  and  done ; — a  statement  which  makes 
his  inconsistency  in  the  religious  education  of  the 
two  sexes  a  trifle  less  glaring. 

Moral  and  religious  instruction,  he  would  not  per- 
mit to  be  gloomy  and  irksome  :  it  should  be  bright 
and  brief,  exact  and  reverent,  and  be  constantly  im- 
pressed by  corresponding  example.  But  "  the  idea 
of  duty  has  no  force  unless  we  join  to  it  motives 
which  impel  us  to  fulfil  it.  Hence  make  girls  feel 
all  the  value  of  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  you  will 


308  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

make  them  love  them,"  by  showing  "  that  their 
virtues  and  their  duties  are  the  source  of  their 
pleasures  and  the  foundation  of  their  rights." 

The  idea  of  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Arbiter  of 
human  destinies,  whose  children  we  all  are,  and 
through  whom  all  human  rights  and  duties  are 
rooted  in  the  very  nature  and  relations  of  things,  he 
thinks  should  be  early  impressed  on  girls  and  made 
habitual  with  them.  But  if  on  girls,  why  not  equally 
on  boys  ?  We  have  seen  his  reasons,  but  they  are 
obviously  insufficient.  Were  his  vague  idea  ex- 
panded into  the  form  of  an  argument,  it  would  take 
this  form  :  Reason  does  not  awake  till  about  the  age 
of  twelve ;  but  girls  will  believe  without  reason 
while  boys  will  not ;  hence  make  a  wide  difference 
in  the  time  and  mode  of  their  religious  and  moral 
education.  In  this  as  in  other  things,  he  insists 
"  that  everything  consists  in  re-establishing  or  pre- 
serving the  9ia^Mra^  sentiments,"  repeating  his  funda- 
mental idea  that  man  by  nature  is  wholly  good,  and 
that  his  errors  and  corruptions  sj)ring  from  educa- 
tion and  external  influences. 

As  in  the  education  of  the  boy  he  would  make 
Robinson  Crusoe  his  chief  text-book,  so  in  Sophie's 
hands  he  would  place  Telemaque,  that  she  may  form 
from  it  her  ideal  of  the  heroic  youth  wlio  alone 
shall  be  worthy  of  her  feminine  perfection. 

Such  then  appear  to  me  to  be  the  most  salient 
and  fruitful    errors,  and  such  the  most  important 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     309 

teachings  of  this  remarkable  book,  a  book  which 
has  inspired  many  reformers  of  education  Hke  Base- 
dow, and  Pestalozzi,  and  Froebel,  and  which  is  said 
not  to  have  been  without  influence  on  pliilosopliers 
like  Kant.  It  is  not  only  the  most  influential  ped- 
agogic work  which  the  18th  century  produced,  but 
it  is  also  the  best  index  of  the  interest  with  which 
educational  questions  were  regarded  in  the  period 
of  feverish  unrest  which  preceded  the  outbreak  of 
the  French  Revolution.  Other  French  thinkers  of 
more  philosophic  character,  like  Condillac,  Helve- 
tius,  and  Diderot,  contributed  to  pedagogy  ideas  all 
of  which  are  of  interest,  and  some  of  them,  of  value, 
e.  g.,  Diderot's  principles  in  the  selection  and  ar- 
rangement of  studies,  and  Helvetius's  belief  that  all 
men  who  are  ordinarily  well  organized  have  equal 
potential  talent ;  but  as  these  works  are  little  known 
outside  of  France,  it  does  not  seem  expedient  to 
dwell  upon  them  here. 

Section  3d.— Immanuel  Kant 

The  father  of  the  famous  German  philosopher 
Kant  was  a  saddler,  and  is  said  to  have  been  of 
Scotch  descent,  to  which  fact  the  curious  in  such 
matters  mio-ht  be  inclined  to  attribute  the  meta- 
physical  genius  of  his  son.  Immanuel  was  born  in 
Konigsberg  in  1724.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  his  native  place,  and  after  some  years'  expe- 
rience as  a  private  tutor,  he  took  his  degree  at  the 


310         THE   HISTORY   OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

university  of  Konigsberg  in  1755.     The  next  fifteen 

years  of  his  Hfe  were  spent 

in  lecturing  on  metaphysics 

and    mathematics,  during 

wliicli  lie  was  offered  and 

refused  the  chair  of  poetry. 

Finally   in    1770    he   was 

made  professor  of  logic  and 

metaphysics  in  his  native 

university    in    which    he  kant,  ir24-i804 

passed  the  remainder  of  his  life,  dying  in  1804. 

Such  was  the  inflexible  regularity  of  his  habits, 
and  such  the  tenacity  of  his  affection  for  the  city  of 
his  birth,  that  during  the  entire  period  of  his  pro- 
fessorship he  is  said  never  once  to  have  set  foot  out 
of  Konigsberg.  The  uneventful  record  of  his  life 
is,  that  he  was  born,  lived  fourscore  years  during 
which  he  never  married,  did  a  famous  work  in  his 
chosen  line,  and  died  full  of  honors  as  of  years, — 
all  in  Konigsberg. 

As  professor  of  philosoph}^  he  gave  lectures  on 
pedagogy,  which  from  their  form  in  his  collected 
works,  would  seem  to  have  been  more  than  once 
remodeled,  though  without  material  change  in  their 
fundamental  ideas.  Kant  evidently  entertained  a 
lofty  idea  of  the  power  and  effects  of  education. 
"  Man,"  he  says,  "  can  become  man  only  through 
education  ;  he  is  nothing  but  what  education  makes 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     311 

him,  and  ho  cau  bo  oducatod  only  by  man."  Be- 
lieving thus,  he  more  than  once  expressed  the  wish 
that  an  experiment  might  be  made  under  favorable 
conditions,  remote  from  the  interference  of  parents 
and  })rinces,  to  tost  how  far  education  can  be  carried 
and  what  may  be  its  results.  "  This  only,"  he  says, 
"is  the  cause  of  evil,  that  nature  is  not  brought 
under  rules.     In  man  lie  only  the  germs  of  good." 

Hence  the  need  of  an  education  directed  accord- 
ing to  an  ideal  of  humanity  and  its  entire  destiny. 
Towards  this,  however,  he  admits  that  mankind  can 
approximate  but  slowly  ;  "for  insight  depends  on 
education,  and  in  turn  education  depends  on  insight, 
which  can  come  only  from  the  transmitted  experi- 
ence and  knowledge  of  many  generations."  As  a 
step  in  the  right  direction,  he  proposes  that  children 
should  be  educated,  not  merely  for  the  present  state 
of  things,  but  for  the  future  possibly  better  condition 
of  the  race. 

But  ''if  children  are  to  become  better  than  their 
parents,  pedagogy  must  become  a  study,  otherwise 
nothing  is  to  be  hoped  for  from  it."  "  Unless  mech- 
anism in  education  is  changed  to  science  and  thus 
puts  fourth  harmonious  efforts,  one  generation  might 
pull  down  what  another  had  built  up."  Hence  "  the 
regulation  of  the  schools  should  depend  only  on  the 
judgment  of  the  most  enlightened  judges. — Only 
through  the  efforts  of  men  of  more  extended  pur- 
poses, who  have  at  heart  the  elevation  of  the  world, 


312         THE    HISTORY    OF   MODERN     EDUCATION 

and  who  are  capable  of  the  idea  of  a  future  better 
condition,  is  the  gradual  approximation  of  human 
nature  to  its  destined  end  possible."  "  Behind  edu- 
cation lies  hidden  the  great  secret  of  the  perfection 
of  human  nature." 

In  the  view  of  Kant  education  is  made  up  of  dis- 
cipline, cultivation,  and  the  attainment  of  prudence 
and  morality.  The  human  being  needs  discipline 
to  tame  his  original  savagery,  to  guard  him  from 
departing  from  true  manhood  through  yielding  to 
animal  impulses,  to  bring  him  gradually  to  all  the 
native  dispositions  of  humanity,  and  finally  to  lead 
him  to  the  right  use  of  his  own  reason.  He  needs 
cultivation  that  all  his  capabilities  may  be  adapted 
to  the  accomplishment  of  any  desired  end  ;  and  of 
these  two,  Kant  says  that  early  discipline  is  the  more 
vitally  necessary,  for  "  He  who  is  not  cultured  is 
rude,  while  he  who  is  not  disciplined  is  barbarous, 
and  neglect  of  discipline  is  a  greater  evil  than 
neslect  of  culture,  for  this  can  be  remedied  later 
whilst  that  can  never  be." 

Again  man  needs  to  be  Taade prudent,  that  he  may 
be  fitted  for  the  society  of  liis  fellows,  may  be 
esteemed  and  have  influence  through  the  possession 
of  good  manners,  politeness,  and  a  worldly  wisdom 
in  virtue  of  which  he  is  able  so  to  bring  his  talents 
to  bear  upon  other  men  as  to  make  them  helpful  to 
his  purposes.  Finally  he  should  be  made  moral, 
that  he  may  be  disposed  to  choose  only  really  good 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     313 

ends,  ends  which  are  held  in  esteem  by  every  one 
and  which  can  be  the  ends  of  all  nnder  like  condi- 
tions. "  How  exceedingly  important  it  is,"  he  says, 
"  to  teach  children  from  their  youth  up  to  avoid 
vices,  not  merely  because  God  has  forbidden  them, 
but  because  they  are  in  themselves  worthy  to  be 
avoided  ;  "  also  to  reverence  and  regard  the  rights 
of  men,  and  especially  of  the  j)oor  and  lowly.  To 
this  last  end,  Kant  would  have  a  catechism  of  rip-ht 
prepared  for  schools  and  an  hour  given  for  its  daily 
stud}^  "that  the  children  may  learn  and  take  to 
heart  the  rights  of  man,  that  thing  most  valued  by 
God  (Augapfel)  on  earth." 

From  Kant's  ideal  of  education,  it  is  obvious  that 
his  chief  interest  centres  in  character-development, 
which  he  terms  practical  education  because  it  has  to 
do  with  conduct  and  the  training  of  the  will. 
Through  this,  the  young  human  being  is  to  be  fitted 
to  become  a  self-directing  and  free-acting  man,  by 
learning  so  to  control  his  selfish  inclinations  that  he 
may  be  fitted  to  become  a  member  of  society,  by 
attaining  freedom  of  the  will  through  the  habitual 
recognition  of  its  limitations  as  well  as  through  its 
habitual  })r()per  use,  and  by  gaining  an  inward  value 
and  worthiness  of  his  own,  and  never  belittling  this 
worth  of  humanity  in  his  own  person  by  vices  or 
mean  compliance. 

The  great  problem  of  education,  in  the  view  of 
Kant,  is  how  to  combine  subjection  to  legal  compul- 


314         THE    HISTORY   OF   MODP^RN    EDUCATION 

sion  with  the  proper  use  of  individual  freedom.  "  I 
should  accustom  my  pupil,"  he  says,  "  to  endure  a 
limitation  of  his  freedom,  and  at  the  same  time 
guide  him  in  making  a  proper  use  of  his  freedom. 
Without  this,  all  is  mere  mechanism,  and  the  youth 
released  from  tutelage  does  not  know  how  to  make 
a  proper  use  of  his  freedom."  He  recommends  that 
from  early  years,  the  child  be  left  free  to  act  where 
he  will  not  ignorantly  hurt  himself  or  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  others,  that  he  be  taught  that  he  can- 
not gain  his  ends  save  by  permitting  others  to  gain 
theirs,  and  latest  of  all  that  he  be  shown  that  what- 
ever compulsion  is  imposed  on  him  is  in  the  interest 
of  his  own  true  freedom,  guiding  him  to  its  orderly 
use  that  he  may  not  be  dependent  on  the  care  of 
others. 

The  will  is  not  to  be  broken,  but  trained  to 
yjpld  to  nfltnrnl  obstacles.  "^Breaking  of  the  will 
|yenerates  a  .slavish  wav  of  thinking  ;  natnrni  oppo- 
sition  on  tlie  contrary  brings  about  tractableness." 
Both  in  this  sentence  and  in  his  discussion  of  pun- 
ishments, Kant  strikes  the  key-note  of  Herbert 
Spencer's  chapter  on  Moral  Education. 

Mere  empty  emotion,  and  a  sentimental  sympathy 
issuing  in  nothing,  he  would  discard  as  factors  in 
education:  "  Let  the  child  he  says,  be  full  not  of 
feeling,  but  of  the  idea  of  duty ; — let  him  learn  to 
put  self-respect  and  inward  worthiness,  in  place  of 
the  opinions  of  men ;  inward  worth  of  action  and 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES 


315 


accomplishment  in  place  of  words  and  emotions ; 
reason  in  place  of  feeling ;  and  cheerfulness  and 
good-humored  piety  in  place  of  cruel,  timid,  and 
gloomy  devotion." 

What  Kant  considers  the  vital  triit"  nf  nn  nnti 


mable  character  are  thes^.four,  1st  obedience,  i.  e. , 
subjection   to  lawful  authority  and  to  t^^f"  i^leP  '^^ 

duty  J 2d   truthfulness   which    he   considers    "the 

essentialfoundation  of  character  ;  "  3d_sociality  or_ 
inclination  toj'riendship  with  one's  fellow  men  ;  and 
^th  candor  which  he  calls  "  a  modest  self-confidence." 
This  statement  of  what  should  be  considered  the 
essential  traits  of  a  worthy  character  has  great  inter- 
est as  originating  with  the  greatest  of  philosophers. 
Early  religious  ideas,  he  declares,  should  be  incul- 
cated, not  as  matters  of  memory  or  imitation,  but  as 
a  general  law  of  duty  rooted  in  the  nature  of  things 
and  independent  of  the  humors  of  men.    Jleligioa- 

is  appliedD^'^^''^^^^yi  thnli  ^^i  m'^^^^i^y  aj2Bl^^^  ^^  ^^^ 
knowledge  of  God.  "  We  must  first  begin,"  he  says, 
"  with  the  child  from  the  law  which  it  has  in  itself. 
Man  is  blameworthy  in"  himsel^^hen  he  is  sinful ; 
this  is  grounded  in  himself,  and  not  because  it  is 
forbidden  by  God.  The  divine  law  must  appear  at 
the  same  time  a  law  of  nature,  for  it  is  not  arbi- 
trary." The  idea  of  God  is  best  given  under  the 
analogy  of  a  Father  under  whose  care  we  are,  from 
which  naturally^ springs  the  concej^tion  of  alLmgn. 
as  one  great  fiimilv.  and  the  cosmopolitan  sentiment 


316         THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

on  which  Kant  lays  stress.  A  few  ideas  of  the 
Supreme  Being  should  thus  be  given  to  children 
that  they  may  know  when  they  see  men  pray  why 
and  to  whom  they  pray,  and  may  be  prepared  to  do 
the  same  understandingly  when  they  reach  the  age 
of  maturing  reason. 

So  far  as  concerns  the  methods  of  education,  Kant 
is  in  substantial  agreement  with  the  essential  prin- 
ciples of  the  educational  reformers.  Himself  the 
veriest  creature  of  routine,  he  seemingly  agrees  with 
Rousseau  in  discouraging  the  formation  of  habits- 
that  the  pupil  may  be  free  from  their  tyranny  ;  but 
the  connection  seems  to  show  that  this  agreement  is 
only  apparent,  and  that  Kant  has  in  view  only 
sensual  indulgences. 

Again  by  a  judicious  definition  of  the  difference 
in  intention  and  spirit  of  work  and  play,  he  dissi- 
pates the  oft-recurring  notion  of  making  learning  a 
kind  of  play,  which,  when  it  means  anything  else 
than  making  learning  pleasant  by  adapting  it  to 
the  capacity  of  pupils,  and  investing  it  with  a  living 
interest,  is  certainly  a  pleasing  delusion. 

Finally,  by  a  sagacious  question  as  to  the  correla- 
tion of  the  course  of  development  of  ihe  individual 
with  that  of  the  human  race  in  time,  Kant  gave  the 
hint*  which  Herbert  Spencer,  ascribing  its  origin  to 
Comte,  has  wrought  up  into  an  ingenious  theory  in 
his    work    on    Education ;.  which    is    now   eliciting 

*  Kant,  Samtliche  Werke,  Vol.  IX.  p.  375. 


IMPORTANT  EDUCATIONAL  TREATISES     317 

much  interest  as  the  theory  of  culture  epochs ;  and 
which  presents  an  interesting  analogy  with  Agassiz's 
generalization  that  the  embryological,  i.  e.,  physical 
development  of  the  individual  corresponds  with  the 
course  of  development  in  time  of  the  class  to  which 
it  belongs. 

The  pedagogical  treatises  of  these  three  eminent 
men  not  only  represent  the  best  educational  thought 
of  the  18th  century,  but  are  types  of  very  unlike 
kinds  of  ability.  Rollin,  calm  and  judicious,  sys- 
tematic and  practical,  illumines  with  the  clear  light 
of  pedagogic  insight  every  educational  i)roblem  tliat 
he  treats,  and  might  safely  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  young  teacher  as  a  reliable  guide.  The  bril- 
liant and  versatile  but  erratic  Rousseau  dazzles  and 
bewilders,  quite  as  often  as  he  instructs  those  whom 
his  eloquence  attracts  ;  but  far  more  than  either  of 
the  others  he  inspires  men  to  strive  for  the  improve- 
ment of  society  by  a  more  rational  training  of  the 
young.  The  ])rofomid  intellect  of  Kan_tjiia|jlavs  its 
power,  not- in  any  svstematic  treatment  of  education, 
but  in  the  establishment  of  great  fundamental  points 


^3^ 


i! 


of  vicAi'.  and  in  striking  suggestions  which  he  left  to 
f  others  to  elaborate.  They  are  remarkable  educa- 
tional representatives  of  a  striving  but  unsettled  age, 
of  which  Kant  voices  the  aspirations,  Rousseau 
typifies  the  tumult  of  effort,  and  Rollin  represents 
the  purpose  to  achieve  the  practical. 


CHAPTER  XII 

VI.       BASEDOW    AND    THE    PHILANTHROPINK.' 
EXPERIMENT 

Basedow,  who,  with  his  coadjuters  Campe  and 
Salzmann,  became  famous 
through  his  educational 
experiment  in  the  Philan- 
thropinum  at  Dessau,  was 
born  the  son  of  a  wigmaker 
in  Hamburg,  in  1723,  and 
died  in  1790.  His  father 
was  a  stern  man,  who 
seems  to  have  seen  no  signs 
of  promise  in  his  son  until  basedow,  1T23-1790 

he  had  run  away  and  attached  himself  to  a  gentle- 
man in  a  distant  place.  This  man  soon  discovered 
that  the  runawa}^  was  a  lad  of  quite  unusual  ability. 
Hence  the  father,  first  seeing  his  son  aright  through 
another's  eyes,  persuaded  the  boy  to  return,  and  put 
him  to  school  at  a  gymnasium.  Here  he  earned 
small  sums  of  money  by  writing  poetry  and  tutor- 
ing other  boys,  and  spent  it  in  dissipation,  presum- 
ably of  a  mild  type. 

Later  he  went  to  the  university  of  Leipsic  to  study 
theology  with  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  clergyman. 

(318) 


THE    PHILANTHROPINIC    EXPERIMENT  319 

He   however   attended  but  few  lectures,    studying 
by  himself  instead  in  a  desultory  and   unordered 
fashion,    and    reading    philosophic    treatises,  from 
which  he  picked  up  a  choice  stock    of  heterodox 
opinions  that  barred  him  out  from  his  destined  pro- 
fession, and  colored  all  his  later  efforts  and  fortunes. 
Next  he  became  tutor  in  a  family  where  he  showed 
his   pedagogic   instinct   by   devising  a  method    of 
teaching  Latin  which  later  he  published,  and  by 
which  he  taught  first  himself  and  then  his  pupil. 
Here  also,  like    Herbart  later,   he  seems   to  have 
devised    and    practised   with   success   most   of  the 
reformatory  expedients  which  were  later  so  promin- 
ent in  his  works  and  in  his  school.     The  fact  that 
he  used  the    Orbis    Pictus   with    his   pupil    would 
naturally  point  to  Comenius  as  the  source  of  his 
pedagogic   inspiration.     At   the   age   of  thirty   he 
became  professor  in  an  academy  for  noble  youths, 
but  gave  such  offence  to  the  patrons  of  the  institu- 
tion by  a  heterodox  treatise,  as  caused  his  transfer 
to  the  gymnasium  at  Altona.     Here,  too,  untaught 
by  experience,  he  published  other  heterodox    and 
controversial   pamphlets,   which  put  him  and    his 
family  under  a  social  ban,  and  caused  them  to  be 
excluded  from  the  communion,  to  the  great  distress 
of  his  wife. 

In  1768,  he  published  a  treatise  on  Schools  and 
Studies,  and  at  about  the  same  time,  an  announce- 
ment of  an  elementary  book  of  human  knowledge, 


320  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

for  whose  publication  he  appealed  for  money  to 
kings  and  princes.  The  money  was  obtained  and 
the  book  appeared,  preceded  by  a  Method  Book  for 
fathers  and  teachers.  The  Elementary  Book  was  a 
kind  of  18th  century  Orbis  Pictus,  illustrated  by  a 
hundred  engravings,  some  of  them  astonishing  in 
the  matters  depicted  ;  and  was  intended  to  teach 
children  nature,  morals,  natural  unsectarian  religion, 
the  duties  of  citizens,  and  business  affairs,  without 
weariness,  by  appealing  to  sense  experiences.  In 
1770,  with  the  aid  of  an  assistant,  Wolke,  he  began 
an  educational  experiment  on  his  infant  daughter 
Emilie,  apparently  as  a  test  of  Rousseau's  theories. 
Of  this  child  Wolke  is  claimed  to  have  made  an 
infant  prodigy,  who,  at  the  age  of  five  years,  besides 
having  an  unusual  knowledge  of  things  gained 
through  the  senses,  was  able  to  speak  German, 
French,  and  Latin,  knew  God  as  a  father,  and  was 
fond  of  domestic  duties.  She  seems  to  have  played 
a  considerable  part  as  an  example  of  what  right 
methods  of  education  were  sup})o.sed  to  be  able  to 
accomplish. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  in  the  Method 
Book,  Basedow  in  some  respects  departs  widely  from 
Rousseau's  A^agaries,  especially  in  regard  to  the  time 
when  religious  and  intellectual  education  should 
begin,  and  in  in^^i.<ting  that  it  is  best  that  the  child 
should  be  educated  among  children.  He  wisely 
says  :  "  Are  not  the  mutual  duties  of  those  who  have 


THE    PHILANTHROPINIC    EXPERIMENT  321 

like  rights,  those  iu  wliich  we  need  a  manifold  prac- 
tice ?  But  can  a  child  that  is  brought  up  in  soli- 
tude without  playmates  be  practised  in  these  duties 
by  his  tutor  in  any  possible  way?" 

In  1771  the  prince  of  Anhalt-Dessau  invited  Base- 
dow to  Dessau,  where,  with  the  aid  of  this  prince  and 
large  contributions  of  money  from  other  high  quar- 
ters, in  1774  he  founded  his  Philanthropinum,  an 
institution  in  which  an  experiment  was  to  be  made 
for  a  thorough  reform  of  the  methods  of  education 
on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Comenius,  Locke,  and 
Rousseau.  Although  its  name  would  claim  for  it  a 
purpose  to  benefit  mankind,  it  was  in  reality  a  board- 
ing school  for  the  rich,  so  that  Dittes  derisively  calls 
Basedow's  projects  "the  pedagogy  of  the  boarding 
school ". 

In  1776,  to  advertise  the  Philanthropinum  more 
widely  and  to  obtain  more  money  for  his  projects,  he 
sent  out  an  "  Invitation  "  to  an  examination  to  be 
held  in  May,  in  which  the  results  of  his  teaching 
should  be  shown.  In  this  ''  Invitation  ",  he  declares 
it  to  be  his  aim  in  education  "  to  form  a  cosmopolite 
whose  life  shall  be  as  harmless,  as  devoted  to  the 
public  good,  and  as  contented,  as  it  can  be  shaped 

by  education The  art  of  all  arts  is  virtue  and 

contentment."  He  promises  a  colorless  religion  that 
will  be  equally  acceptable  to  all.  Latin,  French, 
and  German,  mathematics,  and  a  knowledge  of 
nature  and   art  are  to  be  thoroughly  taught  with 


322  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

very  little  memorizing  ;  and  double  as  much  pro- 
gress in  studies  as  is  usual  is  promised  by  an  un- 
forced study,  through  harmony  with  the  philanthro- 
pinic  training  and  mode  of  life  ;  while  much  culture 
of  sound  reason  is  to  be  gained  by  the  practice  of  a 
truly  philosophic  mode  of  thinking. 

He  undertakes  to  teach  children  to  understand  and 
read  a  language  in  six  months,  and  to  make  them 
fair  scholars  in  it  in  a  year,  and  he  declares  that  he 
has  already  done  it, — alluding  probabl}^  to  Emilie. 
He  also  says  that  "  he  has  devised  methods  to  make 
the  work  of  learning  three  times  as  brief  and  three 
times  as  easy  and  pleasant  as  usual.  All  sciences, 
through  uniformity  of  text-books,  are  to  be  put  into 
such  relations  that  one  part  shall  always  shorten  and 
lighten  another  ;  and  only  that  which  is  for  the  com- 
mon good  is  to  be  taught  out  of  each  science." 
Verily  we  seem  to  hear  the  voice  of  Ratich,  addressing 
us  after  a  sleep  of  a  century  and  a  half !  And  yet 
Basedow,  unlike  Ratich,  is  not  merely  feeding  us 
with  vague  promises  and  proposals,  but  is  giving  too 
sanguine  accounts  of  an  experiment  already  in  prog- 
ress, and  mistaking  fervent  hopes  for  present  accom- 
plishments. 

The  proposed  examination  was  held  ;  many  noted 
persons  resorted  to  it  from  different  quarters  ;  favor- 
able reports  of  its  results  were  published  ;  and  the 
next  year  Kant  wrote  an  eulogistic  article  on  the 
Philanthropiuum,  calling  for  a  revolution  in  educa- 


THE    PHILANTHROPINIC    EXPERIMENT  323 

tion  in  place  of  a  reform,  and  predicting  that  the 
Philanthropinum  would  teach  and  inspire  teachers, 
and  thus  "be  like  seed  corn."  The  rectors  of  gym- 
nasien  however  opposed,  and  Herder,  then  at  the 
height  of  his  fame,  likened  the  projects  of  Basedow 
to  an  attempt  to  raise  a  forest  of  oaks  in  ten  years, 
by  cutting  out  their  main  root,  and  declared  "he 
would  not  entrust  to  him  calves  to  educate,  not  to 
speak  of  men." 

Yet  despite  this  opposition,  the  experiment  seemed 
on  the  high  road  to  an  assured  success.  Neuendorf, 
the  overseer  of  the  school,  strove  like  Trotzendorf  to 
make  it  a  little  republic  in  which  the  pupils  should 
make  their  own  laws  and  feel  their  need  of  them  ; 
manual  labor  was  introduced,  as  had  been  advocated 
by  Locke  and  Rousseau  ;  the  numbers  increased, 
and  in  1782  there  were  fifty-three  pupils  from  all 
parts  of  Europe.  Other  schools  sprang  up  in  imita- 
tion of  it,  of  which  one,  founded  in  1784  by  Salzmann 
at  Schnepfenthal  in  Gotha,  still  exists.  And  yet, 
before  the  end  of  the  century,  not  only  the  original 
Philanthropinum  had  become  extinct,  but  also  all 
its  imitators  save  the  school  at  Schnepfenthal. 

The  cause  of  its  rapid  decline  may  doubtless  be 
traced  rather  to  grave  defects  in  the  character  and 
claims  of  its  projector,  than  to  any  lack  of  worth  in 
the  objects  that  were  sought  to  be  attained,  or  to  any 
lack  of  necessity  that  efforts  should  be  made  for  their 
attainment.     The  object  that  was  sought  was  a  radi 


324  THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

cal  change,  or  as  Kant  phrased  it,  a  revolution  in  the 
current  methods,  purposes,  and  adjuncts  of  education. 
And  that  a  radical  change  was  necessary  is  evident 
both  from  the  testimony  of  Kant,  and  from  the  de- 
scription which  Von  Raumer  gives  as  holding  good 
for  the  education  of  the  times  with  but  few  shining 
exceptions. 

It  was  an  educational  system  in  which  grammar 
and  barren  memory  played  a  chief  part ;  in  which 
eyes  were  used  only  for  reading  and  writing,  and  ears 
only  to  listen  to  the  dull  routine  lessons  and  coarse 
tirades  of  schoolmasters ;  in  wliich  school  rooms 
were  dismally  gloomy,  and  punishments  frequent 
and  savagely  severe  ;  and  in  which  youth,  hampered 
and  tricked  out  in  ornamental  clothing,  with  hair 
elaborately  dressed  and  smeared  with  pomade,  and 
with  daggers  at  their  sides,  were  driven  through  a 
joyless  round  of  uncomprehended  studies.  All  this 
Basedow  in  the  Philanthropinum  undertook  to 
change,  and  thus  to  set  an  example  to  all  Europe  of 
the  direction  that  education,  following  the  precepts 
of  Comenius  and  Rousseau,  should  henceforth  take 
in  care  for  body,  mind,  and  soul. 

In  his  methods  there  are  doubtless  many  absurdi- 
ties and  much  that  is  overstrained.  This  is  espec- 
ially true  of  some  things  introduced  in  moral  educa- 
tion, and  of  tlie  instruction  in  "  natural  religion  ", 
in  regard  to  which  he  was  what  we  should  now  call 
a  crank,  and  into  which  he  introduced  an  elaborate 


THE   PHILAI^THROPINIC   EXPERIMENT  325 

and  silly  ceremonial.  There  was  also  a  lack  of 
frankness  bordering  on  charlatanry  in  his  treat- 
ment of  Latin.  He  believed  in  teaching  only  useful 
things,  and  he  thought  Latin  had  wholly  ceased  to 
be  useful ;  yet,  avowedly  for  financial  reasons,  he 
made  Latin  very  prominent  in  his  school,  thus  pub- 
licly fostering  while  privately  contemning  it.  Had 
he  shown  the  same  worldly  wisdom  and  spirit  of 
adaptation  in  other  respects,  in  conforming  his  pur- 
poses and  methods  somewhat  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
times,  the  Philanthropinum  might  have  had  a  dif- 
ferent and  more  enduring  history. 

Yet,  though  his  immediate  experiment  failed,  it 
was  far  from  coming  to  naught.  An  influence  went 
out  from  it  which  spread  through  Germany,  and  was 
not  without  effect  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Many 
books  were  written  disseminating  its  ideas,  one  of 
which,  "The  Swiss  Family  Robinson  "  written  by 
Campe,  is  still  a  favorite  with  the  young.  The  atten- 
tion of  men  was  called  to  the  folly  and  uselessness  of 
many  things  that  prevailed  in  the  schools  ;  the  real 
merits  of  the  philanthropinic  ideas  worked  their  way 
into  education  through  men  who  avoided  their 
defects;  "peculiar  pedagogic  thoughts  and  views 
were  called  forth  in  men  by  so  great  a  pedagogic 
reform  ;  "  and  minds  were  made  receptive  for  the 
efforts  of  Pestalozzi,  with  whom  began  the  educa- 
tional revolution  for  which  Kant  longed.  Indeed 
Basedow's  bold,  confident,  and   assertive  spirit  had 


326 


THE   HISTORY   OF   MODERN   EDtlCATIOlf 


gained  such  hold  on  the  minds  of  men,  that  even 
when  discredited  by  disaster,  it  left  them  in  an 
expectant  attitude  with  regard  to  education  wholly 
favorable  to  any  future  reformer.  Thus  his  experi- 
ment was  a  success,  even  in  its  failure. 

The  character  of  Basedow  has  been  alluded  to  as 
the  undoubted  cause  of  the  brief  life  of  the  school 
he  founded.  Although  his  ability  and  his  eloquence 
were  remarkable,  yet  his  character  was  marred  by 
defects,  partly  inherited,  but  greatly  heightened  by  a 
wretched  experience  both  at  home  and  school,  which 
unfitted  him  for  a  leader  in  an  educational  enter- 
prise. His  skeptical  and  disputatious  though  evi- 
dently religious  spirit,  betrayed  him  on  the  most 
important  occasions  into  a  strange  lack  of  worldly 
prudence.  The  young 
Goethe,  who  in  1774  was 
his  travelling  companion, 
gives  some  curious  illus- 
trations of  this  and  other 
traits  of  his  character. 
On  a  tour  whose  object 
was  to  obtain  money 
from  the  benevolent,  and 
in  which  success  depend- 
ed on  the  favoral)le  impression  he  should  make,  he 
continually  affronted  people,  and  closed  their  purses 
with  their  hearts  by  uncalled-for  ventilation  of  his 
skeptical  ideas  about  the  Trinity. 


GOETHE,  1749-1832 


THE   PHILANTHROPmiC   EXPERIMENT  S27 

He  was  fond  of  teasing  people  by  running  counter 
to  their  tastes.  Thus  seeing  Goethe's  disHke  for  the 
vile  tobacco  that  he  smoked,  and  the  viler-smelling 
tinder  with  which  he  often  relighted  it,  he  took 
special  pleasure  in  filling  their  room  with  the  nau- 
seous fumes.  This  same  trait  reveals  a  coarsness  of 
nature  which  marks  also  some  of  his  works  on  school 
subjects,  showing  a  lack  of  delicacy  which  was  little 
fitted  for  success  in  a  great  educational  experiment 
involving  striking  innovations,  whose  acceptance  de- 
manded the  utmost  fineness  of  touch  and  refinement 
of  feeling, — such  as  we  have  remarked  in  Fenelon, 

Even  more  injurious  than  all  else  to  the  fortunes 
of  his  school  was  his  over-sanguine  disposition,  which 
betrayed  him  into  describing  ideas  that  he  had  con- 
ceived as  though  they  were  things  already  accom- 
plished. Examples  of  this  have  already  been  given 
in  speaking  of  his  "  Invitation  ".  By  his  bold  asser- 
tions, extravagant  expectations  were  excited,  and 
when  these  were  not  realized,  a  disappointed  public 
was  little  disposed  to  believe  that  the  institution  had 
any  real  merit  whatever. 

The  career  of  Basedow,  like  that  of  Ratich,  affords 
a  striking  example  of  how  completely  the  personality 
of  the  educator,  especially  when  he  undertakes  the 
role  of  a  reformer,  colors  all  his  work  and  brings 
with  it  success  or  failure  to  his  efforts.  He  who  must 
in  some  respects  run  counter  to  the  prejudices  and 
habitudes  of  men,  has  need  of  the  most  consummate 


328  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

prudence  and  tact, — prudence  that  he  may  rouse  no 
needless  opposition,  and  tact  that  he  may  win  men  to 
cooperation  by  so  presenting  new  ideas  that  they  may 
seem  Hke  the  embodiment  of  the  vague  aspirations  of 
his  hearers, — that  thus,  while  he  is  really  accomplish- 
ing his  own  purposes  they  may  seem  to  be  accom- 
plishing theirs.  Not  only  w^as  Basedow  singularly 
lacking  in  these  two  qualities,  so  essential  to  the 
successful  reformer,  but  also  others  of  his  personal 
characteristics  contributed  to  the  failure  of  his  well- 
meant  efforts.  In  the  career  of  Pestalozzi,  we  shall 
see  an  illustration  in  an  opposite  sense  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  educator's  personality,  in  a  life  of  suc- 
cessive failures  caused  by  peculiar  defects,  yet 
crowned  with  enduring  renown  by  virtue  of  great 
and  uncommon  excellences  of  character. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  ideas  which 
Basedow  especially  emphasized  in  his  experiment, 
present  few  or  no  novelties  to  one  familiar  with  pre- 
vious educational  history.  The  idea  of  following 
nature  in  all  things,  religion  included  ;  of  appealing 
in  all  possible  cases  to  direct  observation  ;  of  giving 
careful  training  to  the  body,  and  to  tlie  physical  capa- 
bilities, by  manual  work,  and  V)y  dress  permittiDg  free 
movement;  ofteaching  only  useful  things  ;  of  educat- 
ing the  intellect  that  the  feelings  may  gain  right 
direction;  and  ofguiding  the  young  by  love  instead  of 
by  blows, — are  each  and  all  recognizable  as  the  com- 
mon property  of  several  Innovators  ;  but  what  they 


THE    PIIILANTHROPINIC    EXPERIMENT  829 

held  as  theory,  he  endeavored  to  exemphfy  in  prac- 
tice. The  value  of  his  idea  of  training  the  young 
to  be  cosmopolitan  rather  than  patriotic  may  well  be 
doubted  ;  and  his  efforts,  to  inculcate  a  mere  colorless 
religion,  bearing  no  sectarian  tint,  however  laudable 
may  have  been  its  purpose,  was  not  merely  puerile  in 
its  method,  but  was  strongly  though  unconsciously 
tinged  by  his  own  peculiar  heterodox  views. 

The  influence  exerted  by  this  experiment,  in  an 
age  of  so  high-wrought  expectations,  was  doubtless 
great,  even  though  it  failed  ;  and  Pestalozzi  was  the 
inheritor  of  the  results  of  that  influence. 

p.   325 


JOACIIIiM  HKIXRICU  CAMPE 
17J6-1818 


CHAPTER  XIII 

VII.       PESTALOZZI    AND    HIS    WORK 

The  career  of  Pestalozzi  is  one  peculiarly  difficult 
to  understand.  The  ano- 
maly of  enduring  success 
amidst  continuous  failures 
is  apt  to  strike  the  observer 
as  a  puzzle  that  hardly 
admits  a  rational  solution. 
The  explanation  which  Dr. 
Dittes  essays  to  give  of  this 

curious  phenomenon,  is  pestalozzi,  17-16-1827 
therefore  worth  quoting  as  that  of  one  of  the  foremost 
among  German  educators,  and  of  one  who  strikes 
the  key-notes  of  Pestalozzi's  character  with  intelli- 
gent sympathy.  It  is  as  follows  :  "  The  most  influ- 
ential of  all  German  pedagogues  has  been  a  man 
who,  neither  through  general  culture,  nor  through 
clearness  of  j^edagogic  insight,  nor  through  mastery 
of  method,  nor  through  talent  for  organization  and 
direction,  nor  finally  through  enduring  creations, 
towered  above  his  great  predecessors  and  contempo- 
raries, or  even  reached  their  level.  On  the  contrary, 
in  all  these  respects  he  remained  far  behind  other 

(330) 


PESTALOZZI   AND   HIS   WORK  331 

educators.  What  made  him  great  was  his  inexhaus- 
table  love  for  the  people,  his  pure  heart,  his  glowing 
enthusiasm,  his  restless  efforts  and  sacrifices  for 
human  welfare  through  human  culture,  and  this 
too  at  a  time  which  had  finally  gained  a  sense  for 
educational  ideals,  and  hence  elevated  the  promoter 
of  such  ideals  to  undying  renown." 

That  is  to  say,  through  the  efforts  of  men  like 
Rousseau  and  Basedow,  the  times  were  ripe  for 
educational  reform  ;  and  the  unselfish  love  and  fiery 
enthusiasm  of  Pestalozzi  fitted  him  to  express  the 
needs  of  the  times  and  to  enforce  their  remedy,  despite 
his  lack  in  most  of  those  qualities  which  are  usually 
thought  essential  to  make  up  the  successful  teacher. 
A  review  of  the  career  of  Pestalozzi  will,  I  think, 
convince  us  that  Dittes's  solution  of  the  enigma  of 
Pestalozzi's  fame  and  enduring  influence,  is  probably 
as  satisfactory  as  any  that  can  be  offered. 

John  Henry  Pestalozzi  was  born  January,  1746  in 
Zurich  where  his  father  was  a  respectable  physican. 
He  had  the  misfortune  when  only  five  years  old  to 
lose  his  father,  of  whose  masculine  influence  a  boy  so 
peculiarly  constituted  as  he  stood  in  special  need. 
Under  the  care  of  his  mother  and  of  a  faithful  maid, 
he  grew  up  a  clumsy  and  awkward,  yet  withal  good- 
natured  and  obliging  lad,  whom  his  school-fellows 
nicknamed  Harry  Oddity  von  Foolville.  He  passed, 
seemingly  with  average  credit,  tlirough  the  various 
grades  of  the  Zurich  schools  ;  showed  himself  quick 


332         THE    HISTORY   OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

to  grasp  ideas,  but  very  careless  about  the  forms  in 
which  he  embodied  them  ;  received  through  one  of 
his  teachers,  Bodmer  by  name,  a  strong  bent  to 
natural  liistor}',  and  towards  caring  for  the  happiness 
and  freedom  of  the  people  ;  and  was  powerfully 
stimulated  by  reading  Emile,  which  just  then  was 
published.  The  educational  views  of  this  book 
doubtless  impressed  him  the  more  from  their  strong 
contrast  with  what  he  was  experiencing  ;  whilst  its 
political  ideas  kindled  in  the  heart  of  the  boy, 
already  disposed  to  the  love  of  liberty  by  the  teach- 
ing of  Bodmer,  a  hatred  of  the  aristocracy  which 
was  never  wholly  quenched. 

He  was  destined  for  the  ministry,  but  is  said  to 
have  failed  completely  in  his  first  attempts  to  preach. 
It  was  unfortunate  for  his  earthly  happiness  that  he 
permitted  himself  to  be  discouraged  by  these  early 
failures  ;  for  those  who  observe  the  touching  and 
persuasive  eloquence  of  his  later  addresses,  and  the 
impassioned  fervor  which  glows  in  many  passages  of 
his  educational  works,  cannot  fail  to  be  convinced 
that  his  peculiar  abilities  would  have  found  their 
fittest  place  in  the  church.  The  church,  however, 
lost  one  who  would  have  proved  a  burning  and  a 
shining  light,  and  he  turned  to  the  law.  This  pro- 
fession did  not  harmonize  with  his  ardent  love  for 
his  fellow  men  ;  hence  in  his  twenty-second  year,  he 
abandoned  literary  ideas  altogether,  bought  an  un- 
promising tract  of  land,  built  a  house  which  he 


PESTALOZZI    AND    HIS   WORK  333 

called  Neuhof,  and  betook  himself  to  the  cultivation 
of  madder. 

Here  iu  1769  he  married  Anna  Schulthess,  who 
brought  liim  a  considerable  fortune,  and  with  whom 
he  lived  nearly  fifty  years  in  most  harmonious  union. 
The  letter  in  which  he  declared  to  Anna  his  senti- 
ments and  wishes,  and  which  is  quoted  in  some  of  his 
biographies,  is  remarkable  for  the  frankness  with 
which  it  discloses  all  his  faults  and  weaknesses,  of 
which  he  was  fully  conscious,  as  also  his  aspirations 
for  the  future,  from  which  he  looked  for  a  troubled 
life.  These  anticipated  troubles  came  early  to  the 
young  couple ;  for  the  madder  enterjH'ise  proved  a 
costly  failure,  wholly,  as  Pestalozzi  confesses,  through 
his  own  lack  of  business  capacity.  Then  in  1775  he 
converted  his  home  into  an  industrial  school  for  poor 
children,  who  were  expected  to  pay  for  their  support 
by  field  labors  and  spinning  and  weaving,  while 
receiving  school  instruction  at  stated  hours. 

From  the  outset  this  undertaking  met  with  diffi- 
culties, from  the  lack  of  skill  and  docility  of  the 
pupils,  from  the  stupid  interference  of  parents  who 
frequently  removed  their  children  as  soon  as  they 
were  decently  clothed  and  became  useful,  but  most 
of  all  from  "  the  lack  of  solid  knowledge  of  fabrics, 
men,  and  business  "  on  the  part  of  its  manager.  The 
school  finally  went  to  pieces  iu  1780,  and  left  Pesta- 
lozzi impoverished  and  de})rived  of  confidence  in 
himself,  but  with  a  better  knowledge  of  the  class 


334  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

which  he  desired  to  benefit,  and  for  which  his  benev- 
olent feelings  suffered  no  abatement. 

In  the  eighteen  years  which  followed  at  Ncuhof, 
years  often  of  great  privation,  Pestalozzi  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  reputation  as  a  writer  on  educa- 
tion by  the  publication  of  two  works  which  contain 
the  fundamental  ideas  of  all  his  latter  efforts.     One 
of  these,  "Leonard  and  Gertrude",  which  appeared 
in  1781,  is  by  far  the  most  widely  known  of  all  his 
works.     In  the  form  of  a  homely  but  touching  story 
of  the  life  in  a  Swiss  village,  in  which  Gertrude  acts 
the  part  of  the  good  angel,  it  was  intended,  in  the 
words  of  its  author^  "  to  promote  a  better  education 
of  the  people  by  setting  out  from  their  real  situation 
and  their  natural  relations."     "  It  was  ",  he  says  in 
the  preface  to*a  second  edition  published  in  1803, 
"  my  first  word  to  the  heart  of  the  poor  and  forsaken 
in  the  land,  my  first  word  to  the  mothers  of  the 
land  and  to  the  heart  which  God  gave  them  to  be  to 
their  children  what  no  man  on  earth  can  be  in  their 
stead."     It  was  the  first  expression  of  an  idea  which 
he  never  abandoned  during  his  long  life,  to  place, 
the  first   education    of  children    in   the   hands   of 
'  mothefsT^d  to  so  methodize  and  ev^jnechanize^ 
instruction  as  to  render  this  possible.     This,  wdiich 
was  also  the  idea  of  Comenius,  was  the  fruitful  germ 
from   which   much   later    sprang    the   practicable 
scheme  of  Froebel,  the  kindergarten. 

This  work  attracted  great  attention,  and   roused 


PESTALOZZI    AND    HIS   WORK  335 

among  his  friends  the  hope  that  he  might  be  a  suc- 
cessful novehst.  This,  however,  was  not  the  kind  of 
success  that  Pestalozzi  craved  ;  and  the  next  3^ear, 
seeing  that  the  interest  of  his  story  had  withdrawn 
attention  from  the  educational  ideas  he  wished  to 
impress,  he  wrote  "  Christopher  and  Alice  "  to  accent 
them  more  fully.  This  book  gained  little  notice,  and 
probably  failed  entirely  to  reach  the  class  he  had 
chiefly  in  view.  During  the  succeeding  years,  which 
covered  a  period  of  wars  and  tumults  for  Europe,  most 
of  his  writings  were  of  a  political  and  ephemeral 
character,  yet  with  a  thread  of  appeal  for  better  popu- 
lar education  running  through  many  of  them. 

In  1798,  the  idea  occurred  to  the  government 
officials,  on  account  of  his  incessant  })olitical  activity, 
that  he  probably  wanted  some  office  to  keep  him 
quiet ;  but  to  their  surprise,  when  asked  what  post 
he  would  accept,  Pestalozzi  answered,  "  I  wish  to  be 
a  schoolmaster."  He  was  taken  at  his  word,  and  in 
September,  179<S,  he  was  sent  to  Stanz  to  collect  and 
care  for  the  poor  children  wdio  had  been  orphaned 
and  made  homeless  by  the  war.  Here  then  at  the 
age  of  fifty-two,  and  with  no  pedagogic  experience 
save  the  luckless  industrial  undertaking  at  Neuliof, 
Pestalozzi  entered  on  his  illustrious  educational 
career. 

He  soon  collected  in  a  deserted  convent,  which 
was  given  up  to  his  use,  eighty  homeless  children. 
Ignorant  and  neglected,  ragged  and  filthy,  brutalized 


336         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

by  extreme  want,  and  afflicted  with  various  nameless 
ills,  they  were  unpromising  subjects  for  an  effort  at 
adapting  the  conditions  of  home  life  to  the  needs  of 
numbers  assembled  in  a  school,  such  as  Pestalozzi 
had  in  view.  "  A  person  who  had  the  use  of  his 
eyes,"  he  says,  "  would  not  have  ventured  it ;  for- 
tunately I  was  blind,  otherwise  I  should  not  have 
ventured  it." 

Here  then  with  only  the  aid  of  a  housekeeper,  he 
entered  on  his  task.  The  children  were  taught  and 
cared  for  only  by  him.  He  slept  in  their  midst ;  he 
performed  for  them  the  most  menial  services  ;  lie 
prayed  with  them,  and  strove  to  nourish  in  their 
hearts  the  germs  of  good  principles  :^Jie_combined 
manual  labor  with  instruction  fbai.  jh^y  mitrht  he- 
comeaFle  to  support  themselves.  Forced  by  the 
necessity  of  the  situation,  lie__d.evised-Jilia— plan  of 
concert  rem'tntion  and  h,  s^^stem  of  Mlf^^'^^^'^Hcach- 
ij^S,  ^U  wliicli  the  few  who  were  able  to  read  were  set 
to  teach  those  more  ignorant. 

His  unselfish  labors  for  these  desolate  children 
were  meeting  with  unlooked-for  success,  when  the 
return  of  the  French  army  in  June,  1799,  scattered 
the  pupils,  and  their  overtasked  teacher  gained  a 
brief  period  of  rest.  Later  in  the  same  year,  he  was 
permitted  to  teach  in  the  primary  schools  of  Burg- 
dorf,  a  town  of  some  importance  in  the  canton  of 
Bern.  Here  he  continued  liis  experiments  in  ele- 
mentary instruction,  encountering  some  opposition, 


PESTALOZZI    AND    HIS   WORK  337 

partly  religious,  and  partly  envious.  He  says  :  "It 
was  whispered  that  I  myself  could  not  write,  nor 
work  accounts,  nor  even  read  proj^erly.  Popular 
reports  are  not  always  wholly  destitute  of  truth  :  it 
is  true  that  I  could  not  write,  nor  read,  nor  work 
accounts  well."  What  was  there  then  in  him  to  fit 
him  for  his  work  ?  Ramsauer,  one  of  his  pupils  at 
this  time,  and  afterwards  a  teacher  of  some  note, 
speaks  of  *'  his  sacred  zeal,  his  devoted  love  which 
caused  him  to  be  entirely  unmindful  of  himself, 
which  struck  even  the  children,  made  the  deepest 
impression  on  mo  and  knit  my  childlike  and  grate- 
ful heart  to  his  forever." 

After  less  than  a  year  of  this  teaching,  he  opened 
a  school  in  Burgdorf  in  conjunction  with  Kriisi  and 
others,  which  was  the  germ  of  the  famous  Pestaloz- 
zian  Institution.  In  1805,  this  school  was  removed 
to  Yverdun,  and  soon  gained  a  Eurojjean  re^jutation. 
Pupils  flocked  to  it  from  various  nationalities  ;  ardent 
students  resorted  thither  to  learn  the  secret  of  its 
methods  ;  and  its  fame  attracted  many  distinguished 
visitors.  In  1809,  von  llaumcr,  the  future  historian 
of  education,  spent  some  months  in  the  school  with  a 
friend,  and  his  account  of  it  is  therefore  an  inside 
view,  evidently  candid  but  not  highly  eulogistic.  At 
that  time  there  were  165  pupils,  of  whom  less  than 
half  were  Swiss,  the  rest  being  German,  French, 
Russian,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  even  American. 
There  were  besides  thirty -two  persons  in  the  iustitu- 


338  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

tiou  to  learn  its  methods,  among  whom  was  Fried- 
rich  Froebel. 

But  though  the  school  was  famous  and  apparently 
flourishing,  tlie  seeds  of  discord  were  early  sown, 
which  would  ultimately  bring  disaster.  For  a  time, 
the  self-sacrificing  spirit,  the  unselfish  zeal  for  human 
improvement,  and  the  untiring  devotion  to  duty  of 
its  director,  inspired  in  his  associates  kindred  senti- 
ments, and  united  them  all  in  harmonious  efforts  for 
the  great  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  But  as 
the  numbers  increased,  and  new  elements  were  intro- 
duced into  the  school,  the  effects  of  Pestalozzi's  "  un- 
rivalled hicapacity  for  government"  and  manage- 
ment began  to  make  themselves  felt.  A  strong  hand 
was  needed  to  guide  a  large  establishment,  and  un- 
happily the  man  on  whom  the  director  relied  for 
the  strength  which  he  knew  he  himself  lacked,  seems 
not  to  have  been  gifted  with  conciliatory  manners. 
Hence  disaffection  and  discord  arose,  and  invaluable 
teachers  were  lost. 

Again,  Pestalozzi's  eager  desire  that  the  results  of 
the  teaching  should  be  shown  at  their  best  to  the 
many  distinguished  visitors,  that  thereby  his  purpose 
in  the  spread  of  better  methods  of  instruction  might 
be  promoted,  insensibly  led  to  an  undue  attention  to 
those  branches  which  could  most  easily  be  exhibited 
to  visitors-;  whereby  those  moral  and  religious  char- 
acteristics which  mature  only  in  silence,  were  meas- 
urably less  emphasized,  and  the  education  became 


PESTALOZZI    AND   HIS   WORK  339 

one-sided.  From  this  cause  also  heart-burnings 
arose  among  the  teachers,  since  it  was  easily  seen 
that  those  among  them  were  most  favored  whose 
work  would  make  the  most  impressive  display. 

Pestalozzi  struggled  long  against  these  tendencies, 
but  in  vain.  The  evils  springing  from  the  limita- 
tions of  his  own  nature,  were  too  strong  to  be  over- 
powered by  his  unselfishness  and  his  unfailing  love. 
The  institution  declined,  and  was  finally  closed  in 
1825,  after  an  existence  of  about  twenty  years.  The 
old  man,  already  verging  on  his  eightieth  year,  re- 
tired to  his  old  home  at  Neuhof  where  his  only 
grandson  resided  ;  and  there,  after  writing  his  last 
two  works,  one  of  which  bears  the  pathetic  title 
'■  The  Song  of  the  Dying  Swan  ",  he  died  in  Febru- 
ary, 1827,  having  just  completed  his  81st  year. 

So  much  has  needed  to  be  said  on  the  incidents 
of  his  life,  even  in  a  brief  sketch,  because  his  life 
and  character  are  so  intimately  intertwined  with  his 
educational  eff'orts,  that  the  influence  which  the  lat- 
ter have  exerted  can  hardly  be  understood  apart 
from  the  former.  He  taught  and  influenced  even 
more  by  what  he  was  and  what  he  desired  than  by 
what  he  did  ;  for,  from  his  want  of  disciplined  skill, 
and  from  the  peculiar  enthusiastic  eagerness  and 
lack  of  foresight  which  marked  his  nature,  his  prac- 
tice often  stands  in  the  most  imperfect  relations 
with  his  theories  and  his  real  purposes. 

Witness,  for  example,  his  frequent  violations,  both 


340  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

ill  his  teaching  and  in  some  of  his  method  books,  of 
his  own  fundamental  prinoiple  ofl  iirocccdingjii  all 
possiljle  cases  from  the  observation  of  things,  and 
using  language  only  to  express  idons  alreadx_£QiL=- 

ceived. His  so-called  object  lessons  are  often  mere 

lists  of  names  of  things  by  no  means  present,  ac- 
comj)anied  by  other  lists  of  properties  by  no  means 
observed.  It  might  be  said  that  they  were  intended 
as  guides  only  for  the  subjects  to  be  selected  by 
teachers  ;  but  von  Raumer's  observations  show  that 
these  compends  were  not  so  used  in  Yverdun.  We 
are  not  therefore  to  expect  from  Pestalozzi  that  con- 
formity of  his  i)ractice  to  his  principles  which  is 
common  with  less  eager  and  more  self-contained 
natures.  He  is  to  be  judged  rather  by  his  spirit 
and  his  purposes  than  by  what  he  did. 

The  great  purpose  of  Pestalozzi's  effort-  was  "to 
reform  educational  methods  in  the  interest  of  the 
_  poo''  '^^^'^  npprAQgprI  "  To  tliis  hc  was  prompted  by 
an  unwavering  love  of  man  and  compassion  for  his 
often- wretched  condition.  This  purpose  and  this 
love  inspire  all  his  works,  and  illuminate  all  his 
acts,  so  far  as  his  acts  could  express  his  deepest  con- 
victions. They  appear  even  more  clearly  in  his  in- 
dustrial school  at  Neuhof,  his  orphan  school  at 
Stanz,  his  home  school  at  Burgdorf,  his  institution 
at  Yverdun,  ;nnl  liis  eagerness  wlicii  feeble  with 
age  to  found  a  jxjor  school  at  Yverdun.  than  in 
works  like  "Leonard  and  Gertrude",  or  'Christo- 


PESTAL02ZI    AND    11  IS    WORK  341 

pher  and  Alice ",  or  "JIow  Gertrude  Teaches  her 
Children  '\  '  ^  ~ 

To  so  reform  methods  of  instruction  that  the  ele- 
mentary teaching  might  be  done  at  home  by  the 
mothers,  was  a  favorite  idea  of  his  during  his  entire 
life  *  ;  and  in  order  that  persons  wholly  untrained, 
as  most  mothers  are,  might  use  his  methods  with 
success,  he  strove  so  to  simplify  and  even  to  me- 
chanize them,  as  to  make  their  results  depend 
rather  on  the  nature  of  the  processes  than  on  the 
skill  of  the  teachers.  He  did  not  even  resent  the 
charge  of  mechanizing  method.  On  the  contrary, 
once  in  the  Burgdorf  days,  when  an  officer  of  the 
canton  accused  him  of  desiring  to  make  instruction 
mechanical,  Pestalozzi  said  :  "  He  hit  the  nail  on  the 
head,  and  supplied  me  with  the  very  expression 
that  indicated  the  object  of  my  endeavors." 

That  this  was  no  mere  chance  expression,  but 
rather  the  statement  of  a  settled  purpose,  is  shown 
by  the  objection  made  by  von  Raumer  to  the  pro- 
cedure he  had  witnessed  at  Yverdun.  He  says  : 
"  The  compendiums  were  to  render  all  peculiar  tal- 
ent and  skill  in  teaching  as  good  as  unnecessary. 
These  methodical  compends  wore  like  machines 
which  unfortunately  could  not  quite  perform  their 
office  without  human  aid,  as,  for  instance,  however 
perfect  the  printing  press,  it  must  always  be  tended 

*  For  this,  see  in  American  Journal  of  Education,  Vol.  VII.  p.  533,  Pes- 
talozzi's  preface  to  the  2d  edition  of  "  Leonard  and  Gertrude  ". 


342         THE   HISTORY   OF    MODERN   EDUCATION 

by  a  man  who  really  needs  hardly  the  most  com- 
mon human  reason  for  his  duties.  Pestalozzi's  idea 
of  a  teacher  was  not  much  better  than  this  :  accord- 
ing to  his  views,  such  an  one  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  take  his  pupils  through  the  compend  with  pedan- 
tic accuracy,  according  to  the  directions  for  its  use, 
without  adding  thereto  or  diminishing  therefrom." 
This  was  certainly  a  low  view  of  the  teacher's 
functions,  and  is  one  to  which  the  disciples  of  Pesta- 
lozzi  at  the  present  day  would  be  unwilling  to  sub- 
scribe. It  is  especially  strange  that  one  who  like 
Pestalozzi  was  engaged  in  a  crusade  against  the 
dead  meclianismofthe  schooJiloFliis  time,  should 
have  seriously  proposed  to  substitute  for  it  another 
kind  of  mechanism, — the  mechanism  of  nn  nnvnrv- 

r'  'A 

ing  method.  The  erroneous  course  of  thought  by 
which  he  was  led  to  make  so  serious  a  departure  in 
his  practice  from  the  principles  which  he  enforces 
so  often  and  so  well  in  his  works,  was  probably 
something  like  the  following  : — He  saw  clearly  that 
manv  of  the  worst  evils  of  his  time  SXSSL  ont  o^-the- 
neglect  of  popular  education  and  the  ignorance 
thence  resulting:  his  ardent  love  for  the  people 
which  was  his  most  prominent  and  characteristic 
motive,  impelled  him  to  remedy  these  evils  by 
striking  at  their  source  in  popular  ignorance  :  but 
he  was  firmly  persuaded  that  the  only  effectual 
remedy  lay  in  remitting  the  elementary  instruction 
to  mothers  in  the  home :  hence  to  carry  out  this 


PESTALOZZI    AND   HIS   WORK  343 

impracticable  plan  with  persons  unskilled  in  teach- 
ing, he  attempted  to  devise  methods  whose  results 
should  depend  not  on  skill  but  on  processes.  Could 
his  effort  have  succeeded,  and  such  methods  have 
been  introduced  into  every  wretched  home,  it  does 
not  seem  probable  that  the  evils  at  which  he  aimed 
would  have  been  remedied  ;  for  mere  mechanical 
processes  can  never  promote  intelligence  or  moral 
thoughtfulness,  without  which  the  worst  fruits  of 
ignorance  remain  untouched. 

A  favorite  idea  of  Pestalozzi's,  which  is  strongly 
emphasized  by  some  of  his  modern  followers,  was 
thatall  elementary  instruction  should  be  related  to 
number,  form,  and  words.^-jiumber  leading  to 
arithmetic,  form  to  drawing  and  writing,  ^xm-«rnd— 
unm])er  to  geometrv,  and  words  to  the  right  use  of 
languagsjis-  the  embodiment  of  ideas.* 

Von  Raumer  criticizes  these  categories  as  referring 
too  exclusively  to  sight,  and  hence  seemingly  ex- 
cluding many  sensible  properties  of  objects  which, 
though  embodied  in  language,  cannot  properly  be 
considered  under  cither  number  or  form  ;  and  thus, 
as  he  thinks,  they  run  counter  to  Pestalozzi's  most 
fundamental  principle,  that  the  basis  of  all  instruc- 


tion n.nd  especially  of  elementaryinstruction,  should 
be  laid  on  observation  and  the  properjia£_Q£  the 
senses.     Doubtless  this  idea  fi'om  its  simplicity  fas- 

*See  Pestalozzi's  presentation  of  this  idea  in  American  Journal  of  Ed- 
ucation, Vol.  VII.  p.  675. 


344         THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

cinated  its  author,  and  prompted  a  spirit  so  little 
circumspect  as  liis  to  push  its  application  too  far ; 
yet  when  we  consider  how  absorbing  a  part  sights 
and  word-sounds  play  in  the  sense  experiences  of 
the  young,  and  that  the  really  important  phenom- 
ena which  cannot  readily  be  numbered  or  reduced 
to  form._can  at  least  b^recognized  by  name  as  ex- 
periences  of  sense,  it  is  obvious  that-^^s^trfrr/zi'tj  idea 
may  easily  be"so  applied  as  to  be  he]pfii1  i^i  p]pmftnt^ 
ajyteadong. 

His  biographer,  De  Guimps,  who  was  one  of  Pes- 
talozzi's  pupils,  tells  us  that  his  most  philosophic 
coadjutor,  Niederer,  made  these  threo  tbinp-s  the  es- 
sence  of  his  mftbnd^  viz..  Aim,  Startinq-pni^if,  hikI 
Connection.  His  jiim  was  the  development  of  the 
entire  man  through_the  1/^6  of  his  powers.  The 
starting-point  was  to  be  in  the  child's  tastes  and  his 
ideas  gained  by  previous  experience.     B^ 


tion  was  mpnnt  that  exercises  shouldn3e_iLuIy--j2j:iiid- 
nf]Xof]  to  ihp.  poivprs  of^puj2ilg2_ft^^d  ^Q  arranged  that 
every  exercise  should  grow  out_of_thfi  last  n.nrl  pre- 
pare  for  the  next. 

*Tu^onclusion  let  us  enumerate  what  may  fairly 
be  considered  the  essential  features  of  Pestalozzi's 
educational  scheme.     These  are  as  follows  : 

(1)  To  develop  the  child  and  to  form  his  mind 
through  his  own  personal  activity, "rath er__t]ian  to 
attempt  to  furnish  iiim  with  useful  knowledge. 

(2)  To  base  all  instruction  on  intuition,  i^.  e.,  ob- 


PESTALOZZI    AND    HIS    WORK 


345 


servation  and  experieiice,  and  toconnectiiitimately 
with  this  the  correct  use  of  Jjinguagc^ that  the  child 
may  clearly  express  what  he  clearly  conceives.  Pes- 
talozzi  justly  thoutyht  that  his  greatest  service  to  ed- 
ucation consisted  in  making  the  proper  use  of  the 
seiises  effecti_ye  as  the  basis  of  all  good  teaching,  and. 
iiic()nnoctin(0;  this  with  the  due  use  of  language ; 
and  if  any  one  thing  were  to  be  named  as  the  dis- 
tinctive character  of  Pestalozzianism  at  the  j^resent 
day,  it  would  doubtless  be  this. 

(3)  To  furnish  the  pupil's  mind  with  clear  funda- 
mental notions,  or  "  mother  ideas 'V  as  a  prppnrntinn 


for  all  the  more  advanced  w^ork,  as  for  example  in 
geometry,  geography,  and  most  other  studies. 

(4)  To  popularize  science  by  an  objective  j^resenta- 
tion  ojits  truths  :  in  regard  to  which  it  may  he  said 
that  in  making  science-teaching  objective,  more  has 
been  effected  than  merely  to  make  it  jiopular  ;  it 
has  become  deeper  and  more  fruitful ;  and  in  the 
form  of  laboratory  study,  its  essential  corollary,  it  is 
leading  to  a  rapid  extension  of  man's  knowledge  of 
nature. 

(5)  To  conform  tlie  order  of  instruction  to  nature 
and  common  seusejjy  beginning  with  thaTwhicirTs" 
vr^hv^  t^^^  rp"ge  of  t.bft  pnpiV«  ^YppriPTipp^  adv£ 
ing  from  this  gradually,  keeping  ])nco  with. 
gressive  development,  and  d\v(^lhiig  so   long  and  so 
repeatedly  on   each  stq)  that  lie   may   Ix'   surc^   to 
master   it  thoroughly.     In  the  application  of  this 


346         THE   HISTORY   OF   MODERN    EDUCATION 

principle,  Pestalozzi  pushed  so  far  the  idea  of  be- 
ginning with  the  near,  as  to  jjropose  that  object  les- 
sons should  begin  with  tlie  child's  own  body,  evi- 
dently confounding  the  physically  near  with  that 
which  is  nearest  in  the  order  of  apprehension.  He 
was  wiser  in  recommending  that  religious  educa- 
tion should  sot  out  from  the  child's  love  for  the 
mother,  and  that  this  love  should  then  be  directed 
to  God  as  the  parent  of  all. 

(6)  To  join  practical  skill  with  theoretic  knowl- 
edge by  associating  manual  with  mental  labor,  thus 
insuring  the  habitual  cooperation  of  mind  and  heart 
with  hand.  It  is  only  within  recent  years  that  ed- 
ucators have  become  alive  to  the  importance  and 
possible  value  of  this  idea  in  education.  The  idea 
is,  however,  by  no  means  original  with  Pestalozzi, 
as  we  have  repeatedly  seen. 

(7)  To  base  the  relation  of  teacher  and  child  on 
love,  and  to  pay  due  respect  to  the  child's  individ- 
uality. This  principle,  as  has  been  seen,  was  the 
chief  source  of  Pestalozzi's  power  as  a  })ractical 
teacher,  atoning  for  many  serious  faults  in  both 
matter  and  manner,  and  achieving  results  which, 
as  they  are  described,  seem  marvellous.  Doubtless 
the  race  of  teachers  lias  still  much  to  learn  about 
the  power  of  this  principle,  the  most  difficult  of  all 
to  apply  in  the  management  of  schools. 

(8)  To  make  all  education  culminate  in  charac- 
ter, and  to  make  character  the  standard  by  which 


PESTALOZZI    AND   HIS   WORK  347 

the  value  of  all  educational  processes  is  to  be 
measured. 

(9)  Above  all  to  restore  the  home  to  what  Pesta- 
lozzi  conceived  to  be  its  proper  place  in  education, 
and  hence  to  make  home  instruction  possible.  This 
favorite  idea  of  his  has  already  been  noticed,  and 
its  impracticability  shown  as  a  scheme  for  general 
elementary  education.  Yet  he  thought  so  highly 
of  it,  "  that  he  wished  to  prove  by  actual  experi- 
ment that  those  things  in  which  domestic  education 
possesses  advantages,  should  be  imitated  in  public 
education."  His  schools  at  Burgdorf  and  Yverdun 
were  really  an  experiment  in  this  direction  ;  and 
that  which  distressed  him  most  at  Yverdun  was, 
that  with  the  increase  of  numbers  and  the  complex- 
ity necessarily  resulting  therefrom,  the  home  spirit 
that  prevailed  at  Burgdorf  grew  less  and  finally  dis- 
appeared. 

Of  all  these  principles,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  little 
is  absolutely  new  with  Pestalozzi.  Indeed  it  might 
be  thought  that  most  of  his  educational  activity  was 
merely  an  attempt  to  enforce  and  reduce  to  practice 
the  best  and  wisest  ideas  of  his  predecessors. 
Such  a  supposition  would,  I  think,  be  incorrect.  In 
point  of  fact,  fertile  as  he  was  in  ideas  and  impul- 
sive in  action,  he  appears  to  have  been  wofully 
ignorant  of  what  others  had  done  or  attempted  in 
the  same  field  of  effort  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
Hence  not  seldom,  it  is  said,  he  toiled  over  discov- 


348         THE   HISTORY   OP   MODERN    EDUCATION 

eries  that  others  had  already  made,  or  instituted  ex- 
periments on  what  was  already  recognized  as  value- 
less or  impracticable.  Above  all,  he  thus  lacked 
the  advantage  which  a  spirit  like  his  so  much 
needed,  of  comparing  his  ideas  and  efforts  with  those 
of  others. 

He  once  said  that  he  had  not  read  a  book  in 
thirty  years.  It  would  doubtless  have  been  better 
and  easier  for  him  if  he  had.  No  one  man,  how- 
ever original,  can  be  as  wise  as  all  men,  and  he 
who  permits  himself  to  be  shut  out  from  the  experi- 
ence of  his  fellows,  runs  the  risk  of  making  many 
vain  and  many  needless  efforts. 

Men  who,  like  Pestalozzi,  toil  unselfishly  for  their 
fellows,  toil  that  coming  generations  may  be  spared 
some  of  the  difficulties  that  they  encountered  ;  and 
they  have  a  right  to  expect  that  the  records  of  their 
experience  shall  not  be  unheeded.  To  this  end 
history  is  written,  that  men  may  glean  wisdom  from 
the  experience  of  their  predecessors  ;  and  that  Pesta- 
lozzi failed  to  do  this,  should  be  counted  rather  as 
a  grave  error  than  as  a  tribute  to  his  originality. 

It  was  doubtless  fortunate  for  the  fame  of  Pesta- 
lozzi, that  the  time  of  greatest  eclat  of  his  school  at 
Yverdun  coincided  with  the  period  of  deepest  hu- 
miliation of  Germany  under  the  conquering  arms 
of  Napoleon.  In  that  hour  of  seemingly  hopeless 
darkness,  Fichte  summoned  the  German  people  to 
a  universal  education  of  the  coming  generation,  to 


TESTALOZZI    AND    HIS    WORK 


349 


a  new  and  nobler  national  consciousness,  as  the 
means  of  tlieir  future  eleva- 
tion, and  pointed  them  to 
Pestalozzi  for  the  princijiles 
on  which  such  an  education 
should  be  based.  This  ad- 
vice was  heeded  ;  and  thus 
Pestalozzi  became  to  Ger- 
many, and  through  Ger- 
many to  the  world,  the 
representative  of  those  prin-  '^-  ^-  fi^hte,  1762-1814 
eiples  which  for  two  centuries  a  series  of  educational 
reformers  from  Ratich  and  Comenius  down  to  Base- 
dow, had  with  little  effect  proclaimed.  The  doc- 
trines of  the  Innovators  became  hencforth  the  evan- 
gel of  a  new  education  ;  and  they  were  stamped 
indelibly  with  the  name,  not  of  Comenius,  nor  of 
Rousseau,  but  of  Pestalozzi. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

GENERAL     REVIEW     OF     EDUCATIONAL     PROGRESS     IN 
THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

In  concluding  this  consideration  of  the  educa- 
tional characteristics  of  the  18th  century,  it  is  essen- 
tial briefly  to  review  the  course  of  school  progress 
both    higher    and    elementary   in    several  leading 
European  countries,  and  in  America.     In  the  course 
of  this  review,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  observe 
the  growth  in  Germany  of  a  movement  for  general 
elementary  education,  and  of  a  conviction  that  such 
education  to  be  effective  cannot  be  left  to  local  and 
spasmodic  efforts,  but  must  be  made  an  affair  of  the 
State,  which  the  State  must  plan,  prescribe,  super- 
vise, and  insure.     We  shall  also  see  that  before  the 
close  of  the  century  the  vernacular  tongues  have 
triumphed  in  the  instruction  of  both  higher  and 
lower  schools  in  all  the  leading  European  States, 
and  that  thus  the  essential  condition  of  universal 
education  has  been  secured  ;    and  that  Latin  has 
been  relegated  to  its  proper  place,  as  a  subject  of 
study  by  no  means  necessary,  as  once  it  had  been, 
as  the  vehicle  of  all  knowledge  worth  gaining,  or  as 
a  medium  of  communication  among  men  of  culture, 

(350) 


REVIEW    OF    EDUCATIONAL    PROGRESS  351 

but  yet  vitally  interesting  if  so  pursued  that  we  may 
become  familiar  with  modes  of  life  and  thought  with 
which,  tliougli  now  very  remote  in  i)oint  of  time, 
we  are  still  connected  by  close  historic  ties  that  can- 
not safely  be  severed. 

The  i:)rovisions  for  education  in  England  and 
Scotland  were  much  the  same  as  were  noted  in  the 
preceding  century.  English  secondary  instruction 
carried  on  in  the  famous  public  schools,  underwent 
no  marked  change  in  either  matter  or  manner ; 
whilst  elementary  training,  which  was  remitted 
wholly  to  private  efforts  or  to  private  benevolence, 
was  provided  for  by  tutors  or  in  private  schools,  and 
rarely  reached  the  poorer  classes  until  the  last  de- 
cade of  the  century. 

From  the  conflicting  accounts  given  by  the  parti- 
sans of  reaction  and  of  the  Revolution  in  France, 
we  may  infer  that  during  this  century  France  was 
well  supplied  with  classical  schools  and  colleges, 
since  it  is  affirmed  that  there  were  about  600  col- 
leges, besides  about  sixty  higher  fticulties  in  forty 
academic  centres.  In  these  higher  schools,  which 
were  mostly  frequented  by  the  more  opulent  classes, 
though  occasionally  low-born  boys  of  extraordinary 
promise,  like  Moliere  and  Rollin,  were  found  in 
them,  the  studies  were  dominantly  literary,  and 
were  directed  quite  as  much  to  form  as  to  substance. 
Yet  the  verbal  repetition  of  lessons  had  been  some- 
what modified  by  the  exposition  of  authors  ;  and 


352  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  French  language,  already  famous  in  literature, 
had  gained  a  foothold  in  instruction. 

The  teaching  body  was  mostly  clerical,  though 

the  Jesuits  had  so  declined    in   influence  that  in 

17G4  the  order  was  expelled  from  France,  its  place 

being  taken  by  Oratorians,  and  other  religious  bodies. 

Although  during  this  century  no  governmental 

care  was  given  to  general 

elementary  education,  still 

a  large  provision  was  made 

for  the  instruction  of  the 

humbler  classes  by  various 

religious  bodies,  chiefly  by 

the  followers   of  La  Salle 

(see   page   253),   of  whom 

Matthieu  Bransiett  (Frere 

MATTHIEU  BRANSIETT  p^i^ipg)    ^.^^     ^mOUg     the 

most  distinguished.  If  we  reflect  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Revolution  the  Christian  Brothers  num- 
bered 1,000  teachers,  enough  at  most  for  the  in- 
struction of  100,000  pupils,  without  deducting  for 
the  Brothers  who  were  employed  in  secondary 
schools ;  and  if  we  add  to  these  for  the  poor  chil- 
dren occasionally  instructed  by  other  clerical  per- 
sons as  many  more,  we  may  readily  apprehend 
how  scanty  a  provision  this  would  be  for  a  school 
population  which  in  1790  could  not  have  been  less 
than  about  three  millions. 

When  we  farther   learn  that   the  schoolmaster, 


REVIEW  OP  EDUCATIONAL  PROGRESS     353 

when  iKjt  ;i  priest,  was  iilso  sextoii,  beadle,  elioristcr, 
grave-digger,  aud  bell-ringer  ;  that  he  was  to  attend 
on  marriages,  baptisms,  aud  burials  ;  that  his  in- 
structions were  given  not  to  classes  but  to  individu- 
als, class  instruction  being  unknown  save  among 
the  Christian  Brothers  ;  and  that  his  first  duty  was 
to  teach  the  children  their  prayers  and  to  lead  them 
daily  to  church,  any  residue  of  time  being  devoted 
to  teaching  them  to  read,  write,  and  count, — we 
shall  doubtless  conclude  that  the  humbler  our  esti- 
mate of  the  extent  and  depth  of  the  elementary  in- 
struction given  to  the  poor  of  France  during  the 
18th  century,  the  more  likely  it  will  be  to  corre- 
spond with  the  truth. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  education  in  Austria 
during  the  first  seventy  years  of  this  century  that 
Dr.  Dittes  says  that  in  1773  but  little  more  than 
half  of  the  children  in  Vienna  received  any  instruc- 
tion, that  in  Lower  Austria  sixteen  per  cent,  in  Bo- 
hemia six  per  cent,  and  in  Silesia  four  per  cent 
only,  attended  any  school,  while  in  other  provinces 
of  the  empire  the  state  of  education  was  still  worse. 
But  in  1774  Maria  Theresa,  after  her  realm  had 
somewhat  recovered  from  the  exliaustion  of  the 
wars  in  which  she  had  been  involved,  entered  vig- 
orously on  the  work  of  organizing  general  educa- 
tion ;  and  during  the  short  residue  of  her  life  she 
did  a  work  for  schools  such  as  no  crowned  head  had 
ever  before  dreamed  of.     At  her  death  in  1780,  there 


354  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

were  already  in  Austria  6,200  "  German  schools", 
among  which  were  fifteen  Normal  schools  and 
eighty-three  High  schools. 

For  the  prosecution  of  this  work  she  called  to  her 
aid  the  justly  famous  John  Iguacius  von  Felbiger. 
He  had  already  approved  himself  a  man  fitted  for 
the  duties  of  minister  of  education  in  a  period  of 
active  growth,  by  the  remarkable  work  he  had  done 
in  his  Silesian  diocese,  in  organizing  and  sustaining 
elementary  schools  for  the  wretched  inhabitants. 
Though  a  Catholic  abbot,  he  had  drawn  his  j)eda- 
gogic  inspiration  from  a  Pietistic  source.  He  had 
privately  visited  Hecker  in  Berlin,  had  examined 
and  approved  the  Real  school  and  teachers'  semin- 
ary, had  at  his  own  expense  sent  promising  young 
men  to  learn  Hecker's  methods,  and  had  largely 
adopted  his  Realistic  ideas,  while  engrafting  the 
training  of  teachers  on  schools  which  should  serve 
as  models  to  surrounding  districts.  With  his  ener- 
getic aid  the  empress  accomplished  the  great  work 
that  has  been  mentioned,  organizing  a  system  which 
included,  besides  elementary  and  higher  schools, 
also  schools  for  girls  and  several  Normal  Model 
schools. 

To  Maria  Theresa  is  due  also  the  credit  of  recog- 
nizing and  rewarding  the  merit  of  Ferdinand  Kin- 
dermann,  who  in  her  Bt)liemian  dominicnis  had 
been  active  in  organizing  elementary  schools  for  the 
poor,  and  who,  to  interest  the  people  in  them,  added 


REVIEW    OF    EDUCATIONAL    PROGRESS  o55 

to  the  usual  elementary  subjects  instruction  in  va- 
rious local  industries,  thus  earning  the  title  of 
"  Creator  of  Industrial  schools  ". 

Although  after  the  death  of  the  empress,  Felbiger 
was  permitted  to  retire  to  an  ecclesiastical  position, 
where  he  died  in  1788,  her  immediate  successors 
carried  forward  the  educational  work  that  she  had 
begun,  until  near  the  close  of  the  century,  when  a 
clerical  reaction  began  under  which  the  schools  of 
Austria  suffered  greatly. 

No  other  country  shows  so  marked  educational 
advancement  during  the  18th  century  as  Germany ; 
and  this  is  especially  true  of  secondary  education. 
The  movement  of  the  Pietist  Francke,  with  the  wide- 
reaching  and  well-omened  impulse  that  it  gave  to 
the  training  of  teachers,  to  the  founding  of  Real 
schools,  and  to  the  pursuit  in  larger  measure  of 
studies  other  than  those  of  a  purely  literary  charac- 
ter, was  not  only  German  in  its  origin,  but  during 
this  century,  expended  its  force  chiefly  on  the 
schools  of  Germany.  Likewise  Basedow's  Philan- 
thropinum,  though  it  was  attended  with  misfortune, 
doubtless  did  much  good,  both  by  attracting  atten- 
tion to  practical  studies  and  to  novel  ideas,  and  by 
promoting  a  more  rational  dress  and  regimen  in  the 
secondary  schools,  which  were  widely  corrupted  by 
senseless  French  fashions. 

To  these  changes,  which  were  mostly  in  a  realistic 
direction,  was  added  during  the  century,  in  both 


356  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

gymnasien  and  universities,  the  very  marked  im- 
provement in  Humanistic  studies,  to  which  attention 
was  directed  in  a  previous  chapter.  Through  the 
efforts  of  men  Hke  Gesner,  Ernesti,  Heyne,  and  F. 
A.  Wolf,  there  arose  in  all  the  higher  institutions  a 
thoroughly  enliglitened  Humanism,  which,  no 
longer  contenting  itself  with  the  study  of  correct 
form  and  of  grammatical  miuutiaB  addressed  to  ad- 
hesive memory,  strove  by  philological  methods  to 
assure  a  realization  of  the  ideas,  and  modes  of 
thinking  and  living  presented  by  classical  authors, 
and  a  hearty  appreciation  of  their  beauties. 

Thus  Gesner,  in  recommending  a  style  of  classical 
study  in  which  pupils  with  their  whole  soul  and 
undivided  attention  fix  their  eyes  on  the  author  that 
they  read,  striving  only  to  understand  him  and  to 
enjoy  his  beauties,  tells  us  that  "  when  he  read  Ter- 
ence with  his  boys  in  this  manner,  they  sat  with 
parted  lips,  hushed  in  breathless  silence,  their  eyes, 
their  ears,  their  thoughts  intent, — smihng  too,  since 
their  emotions  were  mirrored  in  their  looks  ;  "  but 
when,  with  the  same  boys,  he  read  Euripides  in  the 
usual  dragging  piece-meal  fashion,  "  they  sat  indeed 
with  open  mouths  because  they  yawned,  and  silent 
because  they  dozed."* 

Through  such  a  change  in  the  spirit  of  Humanis- 
tic study  as  is  here  illustrated,  as  well  as  through 
the  preparation  of  young  men  to  teach  in  this  spirit, 

*  Von  Raumer,  Gesoh.  der  PSdagogik,  Vol.  II.  p.  147. 


REVIEW   OF    EDUCATIONAL    PUOORESS  357 

which  Gesner,  Heyne,  and  Wolf  cared  for  in  their 
philologic  seminaries,  secondary  instruction  in  Ger- 
many was  very  materially  improved  in  this  respect, 
and  assumed  its  present  form. 

Finally  the  movement  to  make  German  the  me- 
dium of  higher  instruction  became  dominant  in  this 
century,  through  its  growing  use  in  university  lec- 
tures, in  which  Thomasius  seems  to  have  led  the 
way,  first  in  Leipsic  and  later  in  Halle  :  this  was 
naturally  followed  by  its  use  in  the  gymnasium,  so 
that  the  despairing  cry  arose  in  many  quarters  that 
the  world  was  surely  relapsing  into  barbarism,  since 
even  from  university  chairs  one  might  no  longer 
hear  any  other  language  than  German.  Doul^tless 
the  growth  during  this  age  of  a  noble  and  truly  na- 
tional literature  had  much  influence,  here  as  else- 
where, in  hastening  the  disuse  of  Latin  as  a  spoken 
tongue,  and  thus  indirectly  prepared  the  way  for 
universal  education  by  the  use  of  the  vernacular. 

The  improvement  in  the  popular  elementary 
schools  during  this  century  was  not,  however,  com- 
mensurate with  that  in  the  higher  institutions. 
During  the  last  part  of  the  17tli  century  and  in  the 
18th,  most  if  not  all  of  the  German  states  recognized 
elementary  education  for  all  children  as  a  matter  of 
state  policy,  and  urgently  pressed  on  the  parishes 
the  duty  of  providing  it  for  all, — so  urgently  indeed 
in  some  cases  that  some  have  looked  upon  the  de- 
crees as  the  beginning  of  school  compulsion  ;  but 


36 c^         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

the  duty,  being  left  to  local  efforts,  was  largely  neg- 
lected or  else  very  carelessly  performed. 

The  peasant  considered  the  schools  a  needless 
burden,  and  offered  a  stupid  resistance  to  them  ;  the 
nobility  dreaded  the  effects  of  any  enlightenment  on 
the  lower  classes,  and  hence  were  unfriendly  to 
schools ;  and  the  clergy  to  whom  the  oversight  of 
schools  was  entrusted,  were  too  often  indifferent  to 
their  interests,  or  even  obstructed  their  progress. 
Hence  little  really  effective  work  was  done.  In 
many  regions  there  were  no  schools  ;  in  more  there 
were  very  poor  ones.  School  houses  were  often 
mere  huts  ;  school  appliances  were  very  defective  or 
wanting ;  and  the  country  teachers,  whom  the 
Teachers'  Seminaries  had  not  yet  reached,  were  still 
recruited  from  the  failures  in  other  vocations,  and 
were  an  inefficient  class  "whose  income  was  mean 
and  whose  social  consequence  was  small."  This  ac- 
count, which  is  given  by  Dr.  Dittes,  bears  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  descriptions  given  by  credible 
witnesses  of  the  schools  in  the  United  States  during 
the  first  decades  of  the  present  century. 

Prussia  made  the  most  noteworthy  efforts  of  any 
of  the  German  states  for  the  advancement  of  general 
education.  The  father  of  Frederick  the  Great,  pe- 
nurious though  he  was  and  fond  of  tall  soldiers, 
established  a  small  school  fund,  founded  about  1735 
the  first  Prussian  school  for  training  teachers  with 
one  of  Fraiicke's  adherents  at  its  head,  and  made 


REVIEW   OP   Er)tfCATlONAL   fRQGllESS  359 

efforts  to  enforce  attendance  in  schools,  but  evidently 
with  small  success.*  It  is  said  that  during  his  reign 
about  1,700  elementary  schools  were  established  in 
his  dominions. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Frederick  the 
Great  early  adopted  Hecker's  school  for  teachers  as 
a  state  institution  ;  besides  which  he  long  made  en- 
ergetic efforts  for  the  improvement  of  popular  edu- 
cation, by  establishing  considerable  school  funds, 
and  by  vigorous  directions  to  those  charged  with  the 
duty  of  supervising  the  schools.  The  small  results 
of  his  efforts,  due  to  the  lukewarmness  or  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  parishes,  the  clergy,  and  the  church 
boards,  so  discouraged  him,  however,  that  in  1779 
he  determined  that  "  Old  soldiers  who  could  read, 
write,  and  cipher,  and  were  in  other  respects  well 
fitted  for  schoolmasters  in  the  country  should  be 
employed." 

When,  however,  the  efforts  of  governments  had 
accomplished  so  little  in  lifting  the  load  of  popular 
ignorance  and  unreasoning  opposition,  a  school  re- 
former arose  in  the  ranks  of  the  nobility,  who,  by 
his  benevolent  work  upon  his  own  estates,  by  the 
schools  that  he  founded,  by  the  elementary  school 
and  method  books  that  he  prepared,  and  by  the  in- 
fluence that  went  forth  from  his  generous  exertions, 
justly  won  for  himself  the  title  of  "  Father  of  the 
Prussian  Country  Schools  ".     This  man  was  Fried- 

*St-linii(U.  Gi'scli.  del-  I*a(lii<;oy;ik,  \'ol.  III.,  p.  513. 


3f)0         THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

rich   Eberliard   von  Rochow,   whose   life  extended 
from  1734  to  1805. 

The  early  years  of  his  manhood  were  passed  in 
the  military  service  ;  but  the  last  forty-five  years  of 
his  life  he  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  his  large 
estates.  He  gives  a  vivid  and  pathetic  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  misery  of  the  peasantry, 
growing  out  of  their  gross  ignorance  and  consequent 
stupid  obstinacy,  was  forced  upon  him  in  a  period 
of  pestilence,  and  of  the  resolution  that  then  sprang 
up  in  his  soul  to  remedy  this  evil  by  a  general  edu- 
cation practically  suited  to  their  condition  and  their 
needs.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  say  that, 
at  his  own  expense,  he  established  schools  on  his 
estates,  trained  teachers  for  their  work,  devised 
methods  for  their  use  suited  to  the  intelligence  of 
children  sunk  in  hereditary  ignorance,  and  even 
prepared  school  books,  which  exerted  a  wide  influ- 
ence from  the  manner  in  which  they  appealed  to 
the  observing  powers  and  brought  into  use  rudi- 
mentary faculties  of  judgment  and  reasoning. 

By  the  example  that  he  gave,  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  problem  of  general  education  for  a  large 
ignorant  population  could  be  successfully  attacked, 
and  of  the  kind  of  training  needed  by  teachers  for 
this  special  work,  von  Rochow  closed  the  18tli  cen- 
tury with  the  promise  of  a  brighter  day  for  the 
German  elementary  school,  a  promise  which  the 
lOtli  century  has  made  a  reality. 


REVIEW   OF    EDUCATIONAL    PROGRESS  361 

In  our  own  country  the  18th  century  was  marked, 
as  is  well  known,  by  Indian  raids,  by  French  and 
Indian  wars,  and  finally  by  the  long  struggle  of  the 
Revolution  and  of  the  subsequent  reconstruction. 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected that  education  would  make  any  great  ad- 
vance. Aside  from  New  England  and  to  a  very 
small  extent  in  New  York,  education  depended  on 
private  and  benevolent  efforts ;  and  everywhere, 
with  but  few  honorable  exceptions,  the  elementary 
teachers,  even  where  not  stained  with  vices,  were 
men  of  but  meagre  knowledge  and  exceedingly  nar- 
row views,  wdio  opened  schools  for  lack  of  other  em- 
ployment or  as  a  stepping-stone  to  something  more 
agreeable,  and  the  meagreness  of  whose  salaries  was 
commensurate  witli  their  qualifications. 

In  New  England  the  legal  requirements  for  gen- 
eral elementary  education  were  continued,  but  the 
subjects  attempted  were  few  and  the  means  used 
were  humble.  The  staple  were  the  so-called  Three 
R's,  reading,  writing,  and  reckoning ;  but  the  sole 
reading-books  were  the  Bible,  the  Psalter,  and  the 
limited  exercises  in  the  New  England  Primer  and 
spelling  books  like  Dilworth's.  Near  the  close  of 
the  century,  these  were  supplemented  by  Webster's 
reader  and  long-used  spelling  book,  and  by  Caleb 
Bingham's  American  Preceptor  and  Columbian 
Orator.     At  about  the  same  time  Pike's  and  DaboU's 


362         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

Arithmetics  superseded  Hodder's  which  had  been 
long  in  use. 

Geography  and  Enghsli  Grammar  were  rarely 
touched.  ^h)rse'8  Geography  and  Bingham's  Young 
Lady's  Accidence,  both,  I  think,  the  first  American 
books  on  these  subjects,  were  published  in  the  last 
two  decades  of  the  century.  The  1809  edition  of 
]\Iorse  which  is  before  me,  contains  but  two  maps, 
those  of  the  world  and  of  N.  America  ;  and  the  pre- 
face to  the  first  edition,  1789,  shows  that  it  was  in- 
tended "  as  a  reading  book,  that  our  youth  of  both 
sexes,  at  the  same  time  that  they  are  learning  to 
read,  might  imbibe  an  acquaintance  with  their 
country  and  an  attachment  to  its  interests." 

Yet  meagre  as  were  the  studies  and  appliances, 
and  poor  as  were  the  teachers,  the  vigorous  youth 
of  those  earlier  days  seem  often  to  have  made  eff'ect- 
ive  use  of  what  they  had.  Reading  matter  was  far 
from  plenty,  in  the  homes  as  in  the  schools,  but  the 
little  that  was  at  hand  was  perused  to  mastery,  un- 
diluted by  a  flood  of  trashy  fiction  ;  the  specimens 
of  penmanship  which  exist  in  the  copy  books  and 
ciphering  books  still  preserved  by  old  families, 
show  that  beautiful  writing  was  not  uncommon; 
and  the  soundness  of  judgment  and  skill  in  aff'airs 
displayed  by  many  men  whose  educational  advan- 
tages had  been  limited  to  what  was  taught  in  the 
New  England  common  schools,  testify  to  the  thorough 


REVIEW  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PROGRESS     363 

use  tliat  was  made  of  what  these  schools  had  to 
offer. 

lu  New  York  during  this  century,  I  know  of  but 
three  legislative  ])rovisions  for  education.  The  first 
of  these,  in  1702,  at  the  instance  of  Governor  Corn- 
bury,  established  a  free  grammar  school  for  seven 
years  in  New  York  city,  and  gave  it  a  grant  of  £50 
a  year.  The  second,  by  an  act  passed  in  1732,  gave 
legislative  aid  for  seven  years  to  a  public  school  in 
New  York,  in  which  should  be  taught  Latin,  Greek 
and  mathematics,  and  which  is  claimed  to  have 
been  the  germ  from  which  sprung  King's  college, 
now  Columbia.  The  third,  by  an  act  passed  in 
1795  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor  Clinton, 
appropriated  $100,000  a  year  for  five  years  for  the 
encouragement  of  schools.*  South  of  New  York, 
whatever  elementary  instruction  was  given  was 
wholly  a  matter  of  private  undertaking  on  the  part 
of  parents,  societies,  or  would-be  schoolmasters,  save 
perhaps  to  a  slight  extent  in  New  Jersey. 

More  remarkable  than  the  efforts  for  elementary 
education  in  those  troubled  times,  were  the  pro- 
visiotis  that  were  made  for  higher  education  ;  for 
not  less  than  twenty-two  colleges  had  their  origin  in 
the  18th  century.  Among  these  were  such  famous 
institutions  as  Yale,  which  began  in  1701  as  a  colle- 
giate school  at  Saybrook,  and   was  without  settled 

*  This  act  appropriated  £20,000,  which  by  some  is  made  $50,000,  and  by 
others  aiOO.OOtt 


364         THE   HISTORY   OF   MODERN    EDUCATION 

home  until  1716,  when  it  was  fixed  in  New  Haven ; 
the  college  of  New  Jersey,  founded  at  Princeton  in 
1746,  but  which  had  its  germs  twenty  years  earlier 
in  the  "  Log  College "  of  Rev.  William  Tennent ; 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  which  began  in 
1749  as  an  academy,  and  grew  in  less  than  a  decade 
into  a  college ;  and  Columbia,  which  was  founded 
in  1754  by  funds  donated  by  private  individuals, 
by  £3,282  received  from  a  lottery,  and  by  £400 
given  by  the  king,  from  whom  it  received  its  early 
name  of  King's  College. 

Brown  and  Bowdoin,  Dartmouth  and  Williams, 
Rutgers  and  Union,  date  from  this  century,  besides 
other  colleges  somewhat  less  frequently  mentioned. 
Nor  should  we  neglect  to  mention  the  establishment 
in  1784  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York 
as  a  central  organization  for  the  purpose  of  incorpo- 
rating and  having  the  oversight  of  academies  and 
colleges,  of  reporting  yearly  on  the  condition  of  the 
institutions  under  its  charge,  and  of  conferring  de- 
grees higher  than  A.  M. 

On  the  whole  it  may  fairly  be  said  that,  when  we 
consider  the  circumstances  of  this  new  and  sorely 
troubled  country,  the  degree  of  educational  zeal  that 
was  displayed  in  it  during  the  18th  century  was  not 
surpassed  by  that  of  any  of  the  older  European  civ- 
ilizations. 

Note  —Although  I  am  aware  that,  from  the  15th  century, 
the  schools  and  universities  of  the  Netherlands  compared  favor- 


REVIEW    OF    EDUCATIONAL    PROGRESS  365 

ably  with  those  of  any  of  the  surrounding  countries ;  that  the  in- 
terest in  education  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers  of  New  York,  so 
emphatically  shown  in  many  of  the  documents  of  the  Document- 
ary History  of  New  York,  is  an  inheritance  of  the  spirit  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  mother  country  of  the  emigrants  ;  and  that  during 
the  18th  century,  schools,  as  well  as  flourishing  universities,  ex- 
isted ;  yet  it  has  not  seemed  expedient  to  include  any  account  of 
them  in  this  brief  review. 


CHAPTER  XV 

EDUCATIONAL    CHARACTERISTICS    AND    PEDAGOGIC    AC- 
TIVITY   OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 

It  is  probable  that  every  age  is  prone  to  magnify 
its  own  achievements,  and  to  vaunt  them  above  all 
that  has  hitherto  been  done.  It  is  certain  that  this 
self-magnifying si)irit  characterizes  the  lOtli  century, 
if  we  may  judge  of  it  by  the  outgivings  of  those  who 
seem  to  be  theacce2:>ted  mouth-pieces  of  public  opin- 
ion. So  far,  however,  as  one  may  be  supposed  to 
judge  dispassionately  of  his  own  times  and  what 
they  have  accomplished,  this  century  is  likely  to  be 
distinguished  in  future  ages,  not  more  for  its  inven- 
tions, its  discoveries  in  science,  and  its  industrial 
progress,  than  for  the  unprecedented  educational  ac- 
tivity which  it  has  displayed, — an  activity  which 
has  extended  to  all  classes  of  society,  and  which  has 
produced  its  most  remarkable  results  in  the  very 
lowest  classes. 

It  would  obviously  be  premature  at  the  present 
time  to  attempt  in  any  detail  to  weigh  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  educational  events  which  this  century 
has  witnessed,  or  to  pass  any  definite  judgment  upon 
them.  The  facts  are  too  near  at  liand,  they  are  too 
numerous  and  complex  in  character,  their  actual 
results  are  still  too  little  apparent,  to  admit  of  that 

(366) 


NINETEENTH    CENTURY   CHARACTERISTICS       367 

truth  of  depiction  and  justness  of  perspective  which 
should  belong  to  an  attempt  at  a  historic  picture ; 
even  were  the  warmth  of  personal  feeling  which 
present  events  are  calculated  to  excite,  not  sure  to 
give  an  undue  coloring  to  many  parts. 

Time  is  the  only  sure  test  of  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  historic  events.  It  often  buries  in  compar- 
ative obscurity  many  occurences  which  to  the  actors 
seemed  to  be  of  first  rate  importance,  and  leaves  in 
bold  prominence  that  which  to  contemporary  observ- 
ers seemed  of  inferior  moment.  Thus  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether,  to  the  men  of  the  18th  century,  the 
struggle  of  vernacular  tongues  for  recognition  in  in- 
struction seemed  fraught  with  the  wide-reaching 
significance  which  we  can  now  see  that  it  really 
had.  To  the  contemporaries  of  Francke,  the  fiery 
religious  zeal  which  pervaded  his  institutions  was 
doubtless  a  far  more  interesting  phenomenon  than 
either  his  efforts  for  the  better  training  of  teachers 
for  his  schools,  or  the  realistic  cast  of  studies  and 
purposes  of  instruction  that  prevailed  in  them  ;  yet 
the  first  was  comparatively  transient,  whilst  the  im- 
portance of  the  other  two  is  becoming  daily  more 
apparent. 

These  considerations  need  not,  however,  deter  us 
from  examining  in  their  broader  aspects  the  most 
striking  educational  facts  of  our  own  century,  though 
they  will  in  most  cases  render  impossible  any  very 
reliable  estimate  of  their  permanent  importance.     I 


368  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

will  therefore  state  what  seem  to  me  to  be  the  most 
noteworthy  of  these  facts  in  the  order  in  which  we 
shall  examine  them  more  fully. 

The  first  fact  that  will  be  likely  to  arrest  the  at- 
tention of  even  the  casual  observer,  is  the  enormous 
pedagogical  activity  by  which  tlie  19th  century  lias 
been  characterized  ;  an  activity  which  has  been  dis- 
played, partly  in  literary  or  quasi-literary  efforts, 
partly  in  educational  experiments  some  of  which 
have  become  accepted  educational  usages,  and  partly 
also  in  wide-spread  educational  associations. 

A  second  fact  has  been  the  rapid  spread  of  schools 
of  ever}^  kind,  but  most  especially  of  schools  for 
universal  elementary  education,  with  the  growth 
of  which  has  been  correlated  a  tendency  to  give  the 
elements  of  learning  to  all  children  free  from  indi- 
vidual expense,  and  to  insure  to  every  child  at  least 
a  minimum  of  training  by  making  school  attend- 
ance compulsory. 

The  work  of  Froebel  in  founding  the  kinder- 
garten, which  is  the  third  noteworthy  fact,  is  likely 
to  be  considered  by  future  ages  the  most  important 
advance  made  by  the  century,  since  it  embodies  ac- 
tively and  efficiently  what  all  theorists  have  taught, 
the  vital  importance  of  the  early  impressions  of 
childhood. 

A  fourth  very  interesting  fact  is  the  great  ex- 
tension of  the  means  for  the  professional  training 
of  teachers    which    lias   taken    place    during    the 


NINETEENTH    CENTURY    CHARACTERISTICS       369 

century,  without  which  the  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  popular  schools  would  have  been  likely  to 
disappoint  the  public  expectations  by  the  meagre- 
ness  of  their  results  :  in  close  relation  with  which  is 
the  careful  provision  that  has  been  made  in  many 
of  the  European  States  for  thoroughly  supervising 
the  work  of  the  schools, — a  provision  whose  benefits 
are  being  rapidly  extended  to  many  parts  of  the 
United  States. 

The  zeal  of  the  advocates  of  manual  and  techni- 
cal training  has  forced  on  the  attention  of  every  one 
what  we  may  fairly  consider  a  fifth  characteristic  of 
the  educational  history  of  the  century  ;  though  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  observe  that  the  idea  of  asso- 
ciating the  training  of  the  hand  with  the  intellectual 
and  moral  education  of  youth,  is  far  less  modern 
than  many  of  its  advocates  seem  to  suppose. 

The  very  considerable  improvements  that  during 
this  century  have  taken  place  in  schools  and  methods 
of  instruction,  on  the  general  lines  of  the  Innova- 
tors, but  in  which  Pestalozzianism  has  been  the 
chief  rallying  cry,  will  claim  attention  as  a  sixth 
educational  fact,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  of 
all,  since  it  is  that  through  which  all  other  facts  of 
the  same  order  gain  their  significance. 

A  seventh  fact  of  no  small  interest  is  the  vigorous 
discussion  which  this  century  has  witnessed  of  the 
relative  value  of  various  studies  as  means  of  culture, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  claims  of  the  classics,  of 


370  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  mathematics,  aud  of  the  sciences  of  nature,  have 
been  examined  diligently  and  with  some  heat ;  and 
its  interest  is  enhanced  when  we  consider  that  since 
the  days  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  the  culture  value  of 
studies  has  been  comparatively  little  emphasized, 
whilst  a  comparison  of  culture  values  has  hardly 
been  thought  of.  This  fact  is  of  special  interest,  as 
an  awakening  of  the  dormant  Humanitarian  ideal, 
which  seems  destined  more  and  more  consciously  to 
influence  the  education  of  the  future. 

(1)  Any  attempt  at  an  examination  of  the  vast 
product  of  literary  activity  in  tlie  domain  of  peda- 
gogy during  the  19th  century  would  be  manifestly 
impossible,  until  time  has  winnowed  from  it  all  that 
is  ephemeral,  and  left  prominent  only  the  enduring. 
German  treatises,  which  are  the  most  numerous  of 
any,  would  alone  fill  a  very  considerable  library ; 
and  many  among  them,  like  the  works  of  Herbart 
and  Beneke,  Waitz  and  Dittes,  Schrader  and  Nohl, 
which  would  be  most  desirable  additions  to  an  edu- 
cator's library,  are  inaccessible  to  most  English 
sj)eaking  teachers,  from  lack  of  translation.  Froe- 
bel's  Education  of  Man,  and  Preyer's  interesting 
study  of  childhood,  have  found  translators  ;  Barn- 
ard's American  Journal  of  Education,  that  wonder- 
fully rich  pedagogic  collection,  has  given  in  English 
dress,  but  in  detached  portions,  a  large  part  of  von 
Raumer's  History  of  Pedagogy,  and  also  much  of 
Pestalozzi's  writings.     Roseukranz's  Philosophy  of 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC   ACTIVITY  371 

Education  has  met  with  favor  iu  the  annotated 
translation  of  it  which  has  appeared  ;  but  when  one 
reflects  on  the  rich  stores  of  pedagogic  thought  and 
experience  that  are  hidden  from  the  inquiring  teach- 
ers of  our  own  country  in  an  unfamiliar  tongue,  and 
on  the  thoroughness  of  treatment  which  character- 
izes many  of  these  treatises,  one  can  but  hope  that 
several  carefull}'^  selected  works  of  German  peda- 
gogues may  soon  be  made  accessible  to  English- 
speaking  teachers. 

A  most  significant  addition  to  our  pedagogic  re- 
sources, from  this  source, 
has  very  recently  been 
made  by  the  translation  of 
Herbart's  "A  1 1  g  e  m  e  i  n  e 
Padagogik  ",  Lange's  "Ap- 
perception ",  and  Rein's 
"  Outlines  of  Pedagogics  "  ; 
whilst  the  judicious  activity 

of  the  Herbart  Club  is  j.  p.  herhakt,  i77(^i84i 
eliciting  great  interest  in  what  many  believe  is  to  be 
the  pedagogy  of  the  future.  And  certainly  the  at- 
tention which  the  Herbartians  are  claiming  for 
"Apperception  ",  for  the  due  correlation  of  studies,  for 
arousing  in  the  minds  of  youth  manifold  permanent 
interests,  and  for  making  education  the  leading  aim 
of  instruction,  i.  e.  for  so  sha})ing  instruction  that  it 
shall  tend  to  the  formation  of  estimable  character 


372  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

through  its  influence  on  the  circle  of  thought, — is 
the  most  prominent  fact  that  is  presented  to  the  ed- 
ucator of  to-day  ;  and  it  has  its  origin  in  German 
pedagogic  thought. 

While  Germany  has  been  most  prolific  in  peda- 
gogic literature,  other  European  countries  have 
shown  a  creditable  zeal  in  this  line.  A  few  excel- 
lent French  works  liave  already  been  rendered  into 
English  ;  some  others  ought  soon  to  find  translators, 
especially  the  brilliant  and  valuable  work  by  Prof. 
Compayre  entitled  "  Historic  Critique  des  Doctrines 
de  I'Education  en  France,  &c."  The  remarkable 
work  of  Rosmini  on  "  Method  in  Education ", 
though  but  a  portion  of  a  large  projected  treatise, 
proves  that  Italy  has  felt  the  impulse  of  the  peda- 
gogic spirit  of  the  19th  century. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Great  Britain  deserves 
to  rank  next  to  Germany  in  the  influence  exerted  by 
its  contributions  to  the  literature  of  education,  a 
number  of  which  are  quite 
as  well  known  in  America 
as  in  England.  Such  aw 
the  works  of  Mr.  Gill  and 
Prof  Laurie  ;  the  excellent 
lectures  of  Mr.  Fitch  on 
teaching  ;  the  interesting- 
sketches  of  educational  re- 
formers by  the  lamented  u.  ii.  (TrTTTl^^i  i89i 
Mr.  Quick,  which  have  been  frequently  referred  to 


FRIEBRK'H  HENEKE, 
1798-1854 


KARL  GKORG  von  RAUMER 
1783-1865 


SIMON  SOMERVILLE  LAURIE  SIR  JOSHUA  G.  PITCH 

1829—  1824-1903 

(373  a) 


JOSEPH  PAYNE,  180&-1876  ALEXANDER  BAIN,  1818-1903 


DAVID  STOW,  1793-1864  CHARLES  NORTHEND,  1814-1895 


SAMUEL  GARDINER  WILLIAMS,  WILLIAM   lORREY  HARRIS, 

1827-1900  1835— 

(3?3  b) 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  -it 3 

on  earlier  pages  ;  the  lectures  of  Mr.  Joseph  Payne, 
so  well  adapted  to  inspire  teachers  to  seek  right 
principles  of  instruction  and  to  use  them  in  right 
ways  ;  and  Dr.  Bain's  *'  Education  as  a  Science  ",  a 
somewhat  detailed  treatment  of  general  pedagogy, 
in  which  every  point  that  is  discussed  is  sharply  re- 
ferred to  its  scientific  basis  in  those  sciences  in  which 
the  author  is  himself  so  eminent  an  authority,  and 
whose  treatment  of  controverted  points  is  so  forcible 
that,  where  we  are  inclined  to  disagree  with  the 
author,  we  feel  ourselves  compelled  to  fall  back  on 
something  more  substantial  than  mere  preconceived 
ideas. 

But  of  all  that  has  been  written  in  English,  dur- 
ing the  present  century, 
probably  no  pedagogic 
treatise  has  attracted  more 
wide-spread  attention,  or 
has  exerted  more  influence 
than  Herbert  Spencer's 
"  Education  ".  It  is  char- 
acterized by  that  clearness 

of  exposition  and  felicity  Herbert  spencer,  1820- 
of  illustration  of  which  Mr.  Spencer  is  so  great  a 
master  and  which  never  leaves  one  in  doubt  as  to 
his  opinions.  Of  all  the  pedagogic  works  of  the 
century  that  have  appeared  in  English,  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  a  brief  examination  of  this  will 


374         THE   HISTORY   OP   MODERN    EDUCATION 

give  US  the  fairest  sample  of  the  nature  and  direc- 
tion of  pedagogic  thought. 

This  treatise,  which  appeared  originally  as  four 
Review  articles  considering  education  from  as  many 
different  points  of  view,  in  its  collected  form  consists 
of  four  chapters  treating  respectively,  of  the  best 
means  of  Education,  and  of  Intellectual,  of  Moral, 
and  of  Physical  education. 

In  the  first  chapter  he  propounds  the  question 
"  What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?  "  and  gives  to 
it  an  answer  which,. though  widely  and  vigorously 
controverted,  seems  to  be  gaining  yearly  more  ad- 
herents, at  least  for  the  present.  Philosopher  as  he 
is,  he  sees  that  for  any  definite  answer  to  a  question 
of  such  vital  moment,  some  standard  of  relative 
value  must  be  fixed  which  is  likely  to  meet  with 
general  acceptance ;  and  he  proposes  in  substance 
this  proposition  as  such  a  standard,  viz.:  that  the 
relative  value  in  education  of  various  groups  of 
studies  should  be  tested  by  inquiring  how  effectively 
they  iwomote  complete  living. 

To  this  proposition,  he  adds  a  statement  of  those 
forms  of  activity  which,  in  his  view,  constitute  a 
complete  human  life,  arranging  them  as  follows  in 
the  order  of  their  relative  importance  :  (1)  the  activ- 
ities of  self-preservation,  (2)  those  that  are  needful 
to  secure  the  necessaries  of  life,  (3)  those  that  pertain 
to  the  rearing  and  training  of  offspring,  (4)  those 
that  promote  proper  social  and   political  relations, 


RECENT   PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  375 

and  (5)  those  that  look  to  the  culture  and  gratifica- 
tion of  the  aesthetic  feelings  and  taste. 

He  ingeniously  reasons  "that  these  divisions  sub- 
ordinate one  another  in  the  foregoing  order,  because 
the  corresponding  divisions  of  life  make  one  another 
possible  in  tliat  order."  Thus  man  must  first  know 
how  to  preserve  his  physical  existence,  and  to  min- 
ister by  his  activities  to  his  daily  recurring  needs, 
before  he  is  fit  to  have  and  to  rear  children  ;  the 
proper  rearing  and  training  of  children  takes  pre- 
cedence of  social  and  political  duties,  because  "  the 
goodness  of  a  society  ultimately  depends  on  the 
nature  of  its  citizens,"  and  this  nature  "  is  more 
modifiable  by  early  training  than  by  anything  else  ;  " 
and  finally  all  these  are  more  vitally  necessary  than 
the  various  sources  of  elegant  pleasure,  such  as  are 
afforded  by  music,  poetry,  eloquence,  aiid  the  fine 
arts,  because  "  society  supplies  the  conditions  of 
their  growth,  and  also  the  ideas  and  sentiments  they 
express." 

Without  pausing  just  at  present  to  question  the 
sufficiency  of  his  statement  of  those  activities  which 
constitute  complete  living,  let  us  see  to  what  choice 
of  means  his  postulates  lead  him,  with  the  addition 
of  this  farther  postulate,  that  "  acquirement  of  every 
kind  has  two  values, — value  as  knowledge,  and 
value  as  discipline," — or  as  the  Germans  phrase  it, 
— a  material  and  n  formal  value.  Without  entering 
at  all  into  the  process  of  illustrative  exposition  which 


37()  TITE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

he  adopts,  and  in  which  he  is  so  remarkably  expert, 
it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  examining  separately  each 
of  the  activities  that  he  recognizes  as  to  the  kind  of 
knowledge  and  training  that  it  demands  for  its  suc- 
cessful conduct,  he  finds  in  every  case  that  science  is 
the  most  efficient  means.  It  is  to  be  observed, 
however,  that  in  tlie  extension  which  he  gives  to 
the  term  science,  it  includes  not  only  the  sciences  of 
nature,  but  also  sociology  and  psychology,  mathe- 
matics and  history,  excluding  only  the  science  which 
embodies  all  others,  the  science  of  language. 

Finally,  after  establishing  to  his  own  satisfaction 
the  pre-eminence  of  science  as  a  means  of  preparation 
for  the  various  activities  of  human  life,  he  proceeds 
farther  to  show  that,  better  than  language,  it  culti- 
vates memory,  judgment,  and  reasoning  ;  and  that 
moreover  it  affords  a  most  efficient  training  in 
morals  and*  religion.  It  is  easy,  however,  to  see 
that  in  considering  science  as  a  means  for  develop- 
ing the  moral  and  religious  side  of  man's  nature, 
Spencer  has  tacitly  narrowed  his  view  of  science  and 
limited  it  to  the  sciences  of  nature. 

On  a  closer  examination  of  this  famous  chapter, 
philosophical  though  its  analysis  appears,  strongly 
as  its  conclusions  seem  to  be  enforced,  and  convinc- 
ing as  its  argument  is  likely  to  impress  one  as  being 
on  a  cursory  reading, — it  is  sure  to  rouse  in  the 
critical  reader  a  feeling  that  something  essential  is 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  377 

lacking,  that  there  is  some  latent  source  of  error  in 
the  discussion. 

A  critical  examination  shows  that  this  source  of 
error  is  twofold,  being  first,  an  imperfect  view  of 
what  constitutes  complete  living ;  and  second,  a 
temporary  massing  together  under  the  vague  name 
science,  of  subjects  generically  unlike  in  character, 
omitting  only  from  this  heterogeneous  mass,  a  group 
of  subjects  whose  use  especially  characterizes  man, 
and  is  both  the  symbol  and  the  instrument  of  his 
superiority  among  living  beings  :  for  man  is  not 
merely  an  observing,  thinking,  morally  judging, 
and  religiously  aspiring  animal ;  but  he  is  all  these, 
and  that  too  in  a  constantly  increasing  degree, 
because  he  is  also  a  talking  animal,  who  uses  lan- 
guage as  the  embodiment  of  his  various  experiences 
and  is  thus  enabled  to  grow  more  intelligent  by  his 
experiences. 

Considering  now  what  is  included  under  the  term 
science,  we  find  that  Spencer  comprehends  under  it, 
not  only  those  sciences  whose  subject-matter  is  of 
the  most  concrete  possible  character,  and  whose 
method  demands  the  use  of  the  observing  powers 
followed  by  reasoning  more  or  less  completely  in- 
ductive ;  but  also  mathematics,  whose  subject-matter 
and  method  diff'er  toto  orbe  from  the  former,  since  it 
uses  rigid  deduction  upon  concepts  of  the  most 
al)straet  nature,  demanding  no  observation ;  and 
even  adds  to  these  history,  whose  gathering,  verifi- 


378         THE   HISTORY   OF    ^roDERlSr   EDUCATION 

cation,  and  analogic  use  of  testimony,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  oxnnions  about  past  events,  obviously  involves 
a  widely  ditlerent  use  of  the  liunian  powers  from 
either  of  the  other  two,  and  both  trains  and  informs 
to  quite  different  purpose. 

It  may  readily  be  seen  that  a  dexterous  reasoner, 
using  a  premise  compounded  of  so  heterogeneous 
elements,  could  easily  prove  almost  anything  he 
wished  ;  by  using  it  in  its  entire  vague  extent  when 
it  suited  his  purpose,  as  Spencer  has  done  in  treat- 
ing of  human  activities  and  their  requirements  ;  or 
by  limiting  attention  to  some  convenient  portion  at 
other  times,  as  he  does  when  considering  the  dis- 
ciplinary results  of  science.  The  ftillacy  is  therefore 
the  use  of  a  vague,  heterogeneous,  and  variable 
middle  term.  It  is  used  indeed  to  strongly  empha- 
size the  worth  of  certain  valuable  and  much 
neglected  studies  and  thus  has  done  good  service  ; 
but,  in  doing  this,  it  has  presented  a  partial  truth  as 
though  it  were  the  whole  truth,  and  thus  leads  to 
error. 

Most  unprejudiced  educators  doubtless  believe 
with  Spencer  that  science,  strictly  so-called,  and 
matliematics,  and  history,  are  each  and  all  valuable, 
both  as  discipline  and  as  means  for  the  better  con- 
duct of  life  ;  but  they  do  not  necessarily  think  that 
he  has  given  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  question 
with  which  he  set  out,  viz.:  what  knowledge  is  of 
most  worth.     The  whole  truth  is  that  all  three  of 


RECENT   ^EDAGOC,^C   ACTIVITY  379 

these  groups  of  subjects,  and  language  also,  are  not 
only  very  useful,  but  even  indispensable  means  of 
a  complete  culture, — a  culture  that  shall  fit  a  man 
to  act  well  his  part  in  all  the  real  activities  that 
make  complete  living,  and  shall  so  equip  him  with 
both  mental  furniture  and  trained  powers,  that  he 
shall  not  find  himself  helpless  in  the  presence  of 
any  problem  that  life  may  present. 

This  brings  us  to  the  examination  of  the  scheme 
of  activities  which  Spencer  deems  to  constitute  com- 
plete living.  And  here  we  at  once  observe  that, 
although  he  names  the  moral  and  religious  senti- 
ments amongst  the  capabilities  that  are  trained  by 
science,  he  has  curiously  enough  omitted  any  men- 
tion of  them  in  his  detail  of  the  experiences  of  a 
complete  life.  He  has  described  man  as  a  being 
who  cherishes  life,  rears  offspring,  does  duty  in 
society,  and  enjoys  aesthetic  pleasures  ;  but  he  leaves 
out  what  constitutes  his  worth  in  all  those  activities 
which  bring  him  into  relations  with  others,  that  is, 
all  that  makes  up  character. 

Prof.  Compayre,  in  the  closing  chapter  of  his 
history  of  educational  thought  in  France,  has  noted 
and  supplied  this  omission  ;  and  he  has  done  it  so 
well,  that  I  gladly  seize  this  opportunity  to  give 
the  reader  a  glimpse  of  one  of  the  foremost  French 
writers  of  this  century  on  pedagogic  questions,  in 
his  statement  of  the  bearing  of  this  omitted  activity 
on  the  question  of  the  value  of  studies  as  means. 


380  THE   HISTORY   OP   MODERN   EDUOATTOM 

Compayre  is  ready  to  accept  as  valid  Spencer's 
standard  of  value ;  but  in  arranging  his  scale  of 
activities,  he  connects  Spencer's  second  with  the  first 
where  it  logically  belongs,  and  intercalates  in  its 
place  as  second  in  urgency  only  to  self-preservation, 
the  moral  and  the-  religious  tendencies,  conscience, 
moral  thoughtfulness,  and  a  will  rightly  directed, — 
in  short  all  tliat  goes  to  the  formation  of  character. 
Man  must  learn  to  live  first,  he  is  ready  to  con- 
cede, but  next  to  that  he  must  learn  to  live  rightly, 
before  he  is  fit  to  become  cither  parent  or  citizen,  or 
to  enjoy  innocent  pleasurcc  to  the  full.  And  few 
will  venture  to  deny  that  Compayre  is  right.  Rollin 
did  but  express  the  general  opinion  of  the  ages, 
heathen  as  well  as  Christian,  when  he  said  :  "  It  is 
the  good  qualities  of  the  heart  which  give  value  to 
all  other  qualities,  and  which,  while  making  the 
true  merit  of  the  man,  render  him  also  a  fit  instru- 
ment for  promoting  the  well-being  of  society." 

The  modifications  of  Spencer's  list  of  means 
which  Compayre  deduces  from  this  interpolated 
activity,  are  important.  "  Since  the  soul  is  not 
created  in  its  finished  form,"  he  says,  "it  should  be 
shaped  by  the  lessons  of  history,  by  the  models  of 
literature  and  art,  and  by  religious  instruction." 
He  thus  demands  the  addition  to  Spencer's  scheme, 
of  definite  instruction  in  language,  and  of  a  positive 
training  in  morals  and  religion,  in  place  of  one  that 
is   purely   incidental,  and  that  leads  too  often  to 


RECENT   PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  381 

a  mere  agnostic  altruism  which  knows  no  God, 
and  recognizes  no  higher  sanction  for  morahty  than 
a  supposed  tendency  to  increase  earthly  happiness. 
He  thus  completes  the  cycle  of  educational  means, 
science,  language,  history,  mathematics,  and  re- 
ligion,— all  needful  to  fit  a  man  for  complete  living, 
each  contributing  its  due  share  to  the  task,  whatever 
the  degree  of  completeness  to  which  it  may  be 
carried,  and  no  one  of  them  entitled  to  claim  pre- 
eminence over  its  fellows. 

The  most  enlightened  educators  tend  everywhere 
to  act  upon  this  view  in  the  selection  and  arrange- 
ment of  educational  means,  though  not  always  select- 
ing the  ancient  classics,  which  Compayre  would 
prefer,  for  language  training ;  whereas  Spencer's 
scheme,  which  was  intended  to  correct  the  obvious 
one-sidedness  of  an  education  too  exclusively  devoted 
to  dead  languages,  would  lead  to  a  new  and  even 
more  injurious  one-sidedness. 

In  the  second  chapter  of  this  treatise,  which  deals 
with  intellectual  education,  Spencer  uses  his  jDowers 
of  exposition  and  illustration  to  enforce  educational 
principles  which  had  been  formulated  by  the  Inno- 
vators, but  had  now  taken  the  name  of  Pestalozzi. 
These  had  hitherto  made  but  little  way  in  England 
and  America  ;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we 
owe  the  fact  that  they  have  now  become  familar  to 
English-speaking  people,  largely  to  this  work  of 
Spencer^ — that  jje  first  effectively  introduced  them  to 


382  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

our  teachers,  in  wliose  improving  practice  they  are 
gradually  making  themselves  felt.  In  this  work, 
also  the  earnest  and  animated  lectures  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Payne,  which  have  been  widely  read,  have  done 
eifective  service  ;  whilst  the  first  public  lecture  of 
Horace  Mann  as  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Board  of  Education,  has  emphasized  for  American 
use  the  cardinal  principles  of  educational  reform  in 
a  most  attractive  guise. 

The  chapter  on  moral  education,  or  the  training 
of  the  young  to  estimable  character,  is  highly  sug- 
gestive. Conceiving  rightly  the  importance  of  this 
duty,  and  likewise  its  universality,  since  the  vast 
majority  of  persons  are  destined  to  be  parents,  if  not 
teachers,  he  declares  that :  "  The  subject  which  in- 
volves all  other  subjects,  and  therefore  the  subject 
in  which  the  education  of  every  one  should  culmin- 
ate is  the  theory  and  practice  of  education."  He 
states  clearly  the  difficulties  which  obstruct  the  bet- 
ter moral  development  of  the  young,  difficulties 
which  arise  in  part  from  the  defects  of  those  who 
have  their  education  in  charge,  in  part  from  the 
imperfections  of  the  society  for  which  they  are  to  be 
trained.  Hence  he  expects,  like  Kant,  that  general 
moral  amelioration  will  be  but  gradual,  and  that 
it  will  be  correlated  with  a  gradual  elevation  of  both 
inviduals  and  societies  to  higher  planes  of  living 
and  thinking. 

Spencer  anticipates  much  from  the  general  appli- 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  383 

cation  in  moral  training  of  the  idea  of  natural  pun- 
ishments, or  ratlier  natural  reactions,  that  is  to  say, 
reactions  which  are  obviously  the  direct,  natural, 
and  invariable  results  of  conduct  good  or  bad,  and 
which  teach  children  by  experience  to  choose  the 
good  and  avoid  the  bad.  To  the  exposition  of  this 
idea,  and  to  copious  illustrations  of  its  application 
in  many  of  the  cases  which  most  frequently  arise  in 
youthful  training,  he  devotes  the  entire  chapter. 
From  this  wliich  he  considers  the  Normal  System 
of  disci})linc,  and  claims  to  be  parallel  both  with 
that  by  which  inanimate  nature  teaches  us  to  obey 
her  laws,  and  with  that  which  the  adult  man  en- 
counters in  active  life,  he  expects  several  very  im- 
portant advantages  over  the  usual  course  of  youth- 
ful discipline.  Whether  or  not  this  fundamental 
idea  on  which  Spencer  bases  his  plan  for  moral  de- 
velopment, would  accomplish  all  that  is  desirable 
in  the  moral  training  of  the  young,  and  would  ad- 
mit of  convenient  application  in  all  cases  of  dis- 
cipline that  might  arise,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  it  would  be  a  great  improvement  on  the  present 
arbitrary  modes  of  j^roceduro  in  which  rewards  and 
penalties  liave  little  obvious  relation  to  conduct. 

The  last  chapter,  in  which  physical  education  is 
discussed,  is  especially  valuable,  since  it  sets  .forth 
clearly  the  physiological  relations  to  innervation  and 
mental  activity  of  the  function  of  nutrition,  and  of 
the  due  conservation  and  utilization  of  its  results  in 


384         THE   HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  processes  of  growth  and  strength  by  proper  ex- 
ercise and  clothing  ;  and  because  it  ilhistrates  the 
principle  of  the  inverse  ratio  of  rapid  growth  to 
structural  perfection  as  holding  good  as  well  in  the 
brain  as  elsewhere,  so  tliat  the  hastening  of  brain 
structure  by  urgent  early  education  is  attended  by 
arrest  of  its  growth  and  by  eventual  diminution  of 
its  power.  These  important  truths,  wdiich  are  too 
apt  to  be  overlooked  by  those  who  have  charge  of 
the  young,  he  illustrates  and  enforces  in  treating  of 
diet,  clothing,  exercise,  and  mental  exertion. 

Noteworthy  in  this  chapter  are  his  refutation  of 
the  hardening -process  notion  ;  his  preference  of  free 
and  vigorous  play  to  formal  gymnastics  because  of 
the  tonic  effects  of  youthful  happiness  ;  and  his  ad- 
vice that  mental  exertions  should  in  all  cases  be  re- 
stricted in  a  degree  proportioned  to  the  rapidity  of 
growth,  and  should  be  increased  only  so  fast  as  the 
normal  rate  of  growth  diminishes. 

Despite  the  narrowing  tendency  of  some  of  its 
doctrines,  this  work  of  Spencer  justly  holds  a  high 
place  in  the  pedagogic  literature  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury. 

The  United  States  have  likewise  made  no  incon- 
siderable contributions  to  the  pedagogic  literature  of 
the  century.  They  have  produced  works  like  the 
very  valuable  lectures  and  reports  of  Horace  Mann, 
and  the  treatises  of  Page  and  Northend,  of  Hosmer 
and  Mansfield,  and  not  a  few  others,  all  of  which 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  385 

have  been  useful  in  their  time,  and  some,  hke  that 
of  Page,  are  still  widely 
used  and  valued  ;  but  prob- 
ably the  works  most  widely 
known  are  the  accounts  of 
foreign  school  systems  by 
Alexander  Bache  and  Dr. 
Henry  Barnard,  and  the 
vast  encyclopsedic  collec- 
tion of  valuable  pedagogic  david  pTpage,  i8io-i848 
matter  brought  together  by  the  last  named  author 
in  his  American  Journal 
of  Education. 

When  we  view  this  peda- 
gogic activity  of  the  19th 
century  in  its  quasi-literary 
aspect, — in  the  multitude 
of  educational  essays,  pro- 
ceedings of  associations, 
and  periodicals  ;  of  educa-  henry  barnard,  isn- 
tional  reports  by  cities,  States,  and  countries ;  of 
analytic  discussions  of  educational  exhibits  ;  of  pub- 
lications like  the  Circulars  of  Information  of  the 
United  States  ;  and  last  but  not  least,  in  the  swarms 
of  text-books  which  liovcr  over  every  de})artment  of 
human  knowledge,  and  which  might  not  inappro- 
priately give  to  this  century  the  title  of  "  The  Age 
of  Text-Books  "^ — we  shall  doubtless  need  no  other 


386  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

proof  that  educational  interests,  so  far  as  indicated 
in  printed  works,  have  received  an  amount  of  atten- 
tion unparallelled  in  tlie  world's  history. 

The  practical  expression  of  this  pedagogic  activity 
may  be  seen  in  the  systematic  school  organizations 
of  most  European  countries  and  American  cities, 
and  the  highly  encouraging  outline  schemes  of  or- 
ganization of  many  American  States  and  provinces, 
all  of  which  are  practically,  as  systems,  the  work  of 
the  present  century,  and  indeed,  in  not  a  few  in- 
stances, owe  their  efficiency  mostly  to  what  has  been 
done  in  the  last  sixty  years. 

Still  another  outgrowth  of  this  activity  is  presented 
by  the  numerous  and  effective  associations  of  teach- 
ers, to  promote  the  interests  of  their  calling  by  papers 
and  discussions,  in  which  the  results  of  individual 
experience  are  made  the  common  property  of  many, 
while  stimulating  all  to  more  earnest  efibrts  by  the 
consciousness  that  they  are  not  isolated  units,  but 
members  of  a  great  army  of  workers  animated  by  a 
common  f)urpose.  Thus,  in  the  United  States,  we 
have  our  National  Association,  organized  in  1857, 
and  bringing  the  prominent  teachers  of  our  vast 
domain  into  healthful  relations  with  one  another ; 
most  if  not  all  of  the  States  have  their  associations ; 
and  in  not  a  few  cases,  the  associative  principle  is 
extended  to  smaller  sections  than  States,  and  to  ed- 


RECENT    PEDAGOGIC    ACTIVITY  387 

ucators  in  special  departments.  Yet  the  United 
States  are  by  no  means  in  advance  of  many  other 
countries  in  associated  efforts  for  the  advancement 
of  education. 

Such  then  are  the  manifestations  of  the  extraordi- 
nary pedagogic  activity  of  tlie  19tli  century,  wiiich 
are  presented  by  its  literary  and  semi-literary  pro- 
ductivity, by  its  organizations,  and  by  its  associated 
efforts.     They  are  certainly  very  noteworthy. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

EXTENSION  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION 

(II)  Let  US  now  see  what  has  been  the  result  of 
all  this  activity  in  the  general  diffusion  of  jjopular 
education,  which,  not  content  with  the  improvement 
of  the  better  classes  and  of  the  elite  youth,  reaches 
down  helping  hands  to  elevate  the  poorest,  the 
humblest,  and  the  most  neglected  classes  of  society. 
We  have  already  seen  what  was  the  condition  of 
general  education  in  the  18th  century,  that  little 
effort  had  been  made  in  that  direction  save  in  Ger- 
many, Scotland,  and  a  small  part  of  the  United 
States ;  that  the  results  of  this  effort  had  been 
neither  wide  nor  deep  ;  and  that  the  state  of  things 
at  the  close  of  that  century  was  not  very  encourag- 
ing, the  efforts  of  von  Rochow  in  Prussia,  of  Scot- 
land and  of  New  England,  and  the  notable  tempo- 
rary aid  given  by  the  New  York  legislature,  being 
the  brightest  points  in  the  situation. 

This  consideration  will  enable  us  more  clearly  to 
appreciate  the  enormous  advance  that  has  been 
made  in  public  elementary  education  during  the 
present  century,  in  many  States  of  Europe  and 
America,  not  to  mention  India  and  Japan.     In  all 

(388) 


EXTENSION  OP  POPULAR  EDUCATION     '"^80 

parts  of  the  civilized  world  very  considerable  efforts 
have  been  made  to  extend  the  benefits  of  education 
to  all  classes,  and  in  many  countries  the  ratio  of 
illiteracy  has  become  relatively  small  and  is  decreas- 
ing. This  is  especially  true  in  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, Holland,  Denmark,  France,  and  Great  Britain, 
and  in  the  northern  United  States  and  Canada. 
Indeed  it  might  be  said  without  any  material  inac- 
curacy that  general  elementary  education  is  the 
creation  of  the  19th  century. 

The  movement  has  however  not  been  free  from 
vicissitudes.  Germany  is  apt  to  be  referred  to  as  the 
typical  home  of  progressive  popular  education  ;  yet, 
in  the  opinion  of  well-informed  Germans,  its  progress 
there  during  this  century  has  met  with  a  serious 
retrogression.  In  the  period  between  1840  and  1872, 
a  reactionary  movement  occurred  in  Prussia  and 
some  other  Germanic  states,  which  was  so  serious  in 
its  effects  that  in  1870,  of  the  recruits  for  the  army 
from  tliree  provinces  of  Prussia  about  14  per  cent 
were  wholly  illiterate,  whilst  of  the  recruits  from 
Saxony  and  Wiirtemberg  less  than  five  in  a  thous- 
and were  unable  to  read  and  write.  The  effects  of 
the  reforms  made  in  1872  have  been  so  marked 
that  illiteracy  among  the  recruits  of  1888  has  been 
reduced  in  the  worst  cases  to  less  than  a  fourth  of 
that  in  1870. 

The  Census  Reports  of  the  United  States  for  1880, 
show  that  of  persons  ten  years  old  and  upwards  13.4 


390         THE   ttlSTOHY   OP   MODERN   EDlTCATrON 

per  cent  were  unable  to  read.  Though  this  may  not 
seem  a  very  encouraging  exhibit,  we  find  occasion 
to  modify  any  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  efficiency 
of  popular  education  in  the  United  States,  when 
looking  farther  in  the  census  tables  we  find  how 
large  a  proportion  of  the  illiterates  is  made  up  of 
the  freedmen  of  the  south  and  of  ignorant  foreign- 
ers. When  the  foreign  element  is  eliminated  from 
the  calculation,  Massachusetts  is  found  to  have  but 
seven  per  thousand  and  New  York  twenty-two  per 
thousand  who  are  unable  to  write.  The  energy 
with  which  educational  extension  has  been  pushed 
during  the  past  decade  in  sections  where  ignorance 
most  abounds,  had  given  reason  to  expect  that  the 
census  of  1890  would  show  great  progress  over  1880. 
This  expectation  has  not  been  verified,  as  the  statis- 
tics for  1890  show  but  slight  changes,  and  these  not 
always  for  the  better. 

The  State  of  New  York  affords  a  good  example  of 
the  growth  of  our  public  school  system,  and  of  the 
fact  that  it  owes  its  efficiency  wholly  to  the  19th 
century.  In  this  State  great  difficulties  were  early 
encountered  in  all  attempts  at  common  education, 
from  the  heterogeneity  of  its  population,  composed 
as  it  was  of  immigrants  of  several  nationalities  and 
speaking  different  languages  or  dialects.  Hence 
until  near  the  close  of  the  18th  century,  education 
was  mostly  private.  An  act  passed  in  1795  appro- 
priating 1100,000  a  year  for  five  years  for  the  en- 


EXTENSION   6P   POPULAR    EDUCATION  SDl 

couragement  of  schools,  proved  inoperative  during 
its  last  two  years,  expired  by  its  own  limitation,  and 
was  not  renewed. 

In  1805,  however,  provisions  were  made  for  the 
formation  of  a  fund  whose  income  should  aid  in  the 
support  of  schools,  and  this  fund  in  1894  had  in- 
creased to  $4,398,140-jyo.  Also  in  1836  the  State 
received  as  its  share  of  the  surplus  in  the  United 
States  treasury,  which  was  deposited  until  called 
for  with  the  several  States  on  the  basis  of  their 
representation  in  congress,  the  sum  of  $4,014,520, 
and  devoted  it  wholly  to  the  promotion  of  education. 
This  constitutes  what  is  called  the  United  States 
Deposit  Fund,  the  income  of  which  is  yearly  appor- 
tioned to  common  and  secondary  schools,  to  instruc- 
tion of  teachers'  classes,  and  to  the  increase  of  the 
general  school  fund. 

It  was  not  until  1812  that  an  act  was  passed  tak- 
ing the  elementary  schools  under  the  oversight  of 
the  State  and  looking  to  their  permanent  establish- 
ment. Hence  the  school  system  of  New  York  is 
now  (1896)  but  eighty-four  years  old.  From  1841 
to  1856  experiments  were  tried  first  with  county 
supervision  and  then  with  supervision  by  towns, 
ending  in  1856  with  the  present  system  of  super- 
vision by  Assembly  Districts. 

Up  to  1867,  the  school  moneys  received  from  the 
State  were  supplemented  in  the  several  school  dis- 
tricts by  rate  bills,  in  which  the  deficiencies  were 


392         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

apportioned  among  the  patrons  of  the  schools  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  days  of  attendance  off 
their  children.  Since  1867,  the  public  schools  have 
been  supported  wholly  by  funds  received  from  the 
State  and  from  local  taxation,  and  instruction  in 
them  is  free  to  all  children  residing  in  the  respective 
districts. 

The  time  during  which  schools  are  required  to  be 
in  session  was  in  1889  raised  from  28  weeks,  as  it 
had  stood  for  a  considerable  period,  to  32  weeks,  a 
higher  minimum  than  is  demanded  in  any  other 
State,  though  at  least  three  other  States  show  a 
higher  average  number  of  days  during  which  schools 
were  in  session.  During  the  year  1894  there  were 
1,124,998  children  in  attendance  on  these  schools, 
more  than  17  per  cent  of  the  entire  population  ;  and 
the  entire  expense  of  the  system  was  $19,308,571,  or 
$2.97  for  each  individual  of  the  population.  In 
1880,  Prussia  expended  per  unit  of  population 
nearly  $1.02  for  her  popular  schools. 

It  is  often  alleged  that  the  growth  in  efficiency  of 
the  public  schools  in  the  United  States  has  by  no 
means  kept  due  pace  with  the  increase  in  attendance 
and  expenditures  ;  and  this  allegation  is  probably 
not  without  too  much  foundation.  Its  chief  cause 
is  sufficiently  apparent  in  the  lack  of  any  settled  and 
permanent  teaching  body ;  and  this  cause  of  the 
lack  of  any  sufficient  result  from  the  sums  that  are 
expended,  can  be  removed  only  by  the  growth  of  a 


EXTENSION    OP    ?01'T;lAR   EDUCATION  393 

public  sentiment  which  shall  regard  the  teacher's 
vocation  as  a  permanent  and  honored  profession,  to 
be  carefully  prepared  for  and  competently  compen- 
sated, and  which  shall  besides  be  ready  to  place  the 
teacher's  tenure  of  his  place  on  a  basis  more  reliable 
than  local,  or  sometimes  even  personal,  fluctuations 
of  opinion. 

But  aside  from  faults  like  this,  which  are  the  per- 
haps unavoidable  attendants  of  the  rapid  growth 
from  chaos  towards  a  system, — when  we  consider 
that. what  has  been  done  to  provide  instruction  for 
all  classes  is  the  work  of  a  century  which  has  not 
yet  completed  its  last  decade,  and  that  the  illustra- 
tion that  has  been  given  has  been  chosen,  not  because 
it  is  probably  the  most  favorable  (England  would  be 
quite  as  favorable),  but  because  the  materials  chance 
to  be  the  most  accessible, — we  shall  doubtless  see 
occasion  to  wonder  rather  that  so  much  has  been 
done  than  that  it  has  not  been  more  perfectly  done. 

Correlated  with  this  vast  extension  of  facilities  for 
popular  instruction,  has  been  the  growth  of  a  ten- 
dency to  make  it  both  free  and  compulsory.  In  Ger- 
many elementary  instruction,  usually  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  fourteen,  is  everywhere  compul- 
sory, though  a  small  fee  is  paid  by  those  who  can 
afford  it,  in  some  of  the  States  at  least.  In  England 
also  elementary  education  has  been  made  obligatory, 
a  small  weekly  fee  being  required,  in  certain  cases, 
of  those  who  are  able  to  pay.     In  France  elementary 


394         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

education  has  recently  been  made  both  free  and 
compulsory  ;  and  in  some  of  the  smaller  European 
states,  like  Switzerland  and  Denmark,  compulsory 
attendance  at  school  within  certain  limits  of  age  is 
the  rule. 

It  is  also  asserted  that  where  obligatory  school 
attendance  has  been  some  time  enforced,  it  soon 
ceases  to  be  attended  with  any  considerable  trouble 
or  friction.  Certainly  one  of  the  things  that  strongly 
impresses  an  American  visitor  to  many  European 
cities  is  the  entire  absence  of  children  of  school 
age  from  the  streets  during  the  hours  appointed  for 
schools. 

In  the  United  States,  the  tendency  has  so  far  been 
stronger  towards  free  schools  than  towards  compul- 
sory attendance.  So-called  compulsory  laws  have 
been  passed  in  several  States,  but  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  anywhere  thoroughly  enforced  ;  and 
in  a  country  where,  if  anywhere,  the  very  logic  of  its 
institutions  demands  universal  education,  there  have 
not  been  lacking  those  wdio  have  declared  any 
attempts  to  compel  attendance  of  children  at  school 
an  infringement  of  the  sacred  rights  of  parents,  the 
major  part  of  such  parents  as  are  likely  to  need 
compulsion  being,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  paupers, 
drunkards,  or  criminals  whose  existence  is  a  burden 
or  a  danger  to  society. 

There  are  not  wanting,  however,  indications  that 
sophisms  like  this,  or  that  other  which  plausibly 


EXTENSION   OP   POPULAR   EDUCATION  395 

declares  that  compulsory  school  attendance  is  a 
violation  of  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions,  are 
losing  their  force,  and  that  enlightened  communi- 
ties, especially  those  in  which  are  many  large  cities, 
are  likely  soon  to  insist  that  if  owners  of  property 
are  to  be  called  on  yearly  to  pay  large  taxes  for 
educational  purposes  that  they  may  be  assured 
against  the  dangers  of  ignorance  and  vice,  they 
shall  at  least  receive  that  for  which  they  pay.  It 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  in  the  United  States,  as 
in  other  civilized  countries,  the  elementary  educa- 
tion which  this  century  has  offered  to  all,  will  be 
assured  to  every  child,  without  any  too  tender  regard 
for  the  sacred  right  of  ignorant  and  vicious  par- 
ents to  rear  their  children  in  like  ignorance  and 
vice.* 

*  For  an  excellent  argument  for  free  and  compulsory  education  see 
Horace  Mann's  10th  Report  to  the  State  Board  of  Education  of  Massa- 
chusetts, to  page  31. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FROEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN 

(III)  In  the  estimation  of  future  school-men,  the 
educational  ideas  of  Froebel,  as  well  as  his  founda- 
tion of  the  kindergarten,  seem  likely  to  hold  well- 
nigh  an  unique  place  as  marking  possibly  the  most 
important  educational  advance  made  by  the  century. 
The  kindergarten,  at  present,  rightly  attracts  the 
greatest  public  interest,  since  it  is  proving  itself  a 
wise  and  effective  embodiment  of  an  idea  which 
Quintilian  dimly  conceived,  which  Comenius  pro- 
posed, and  which  Pestalozzi  always  cherished,  and 
since  besides  it  gives  practical  expression  to  what 
theorists  had  for  ages  been  preaching  as  vitally 
needful, — care  for  the  earliest  impressions  made  on 
the  plastic  mind  of  the  child.  And  yet,  aside  from 
this  his  most  brilliant  achievement,  which  is  but  a 
single  outgrowth  of  his  cherished  principles,  some 
of  his  pedagogic  ideas  which  to  not  a  few  have 
seemed  to  be  enigmas  needing  for  their  solution  a 
deejDer  pedagogic  experience  than  we  now  possess, 
are  silently  revolutionizing  the  practice  of  many  who 
would  hardly  recognize  their  source  in  the  seeming- 
ly visionary  utterances  of  their  author. 

Hence  such  facts  in  the  life  of  Froebel  as  relate 
(396) 


PROEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN     397 

to  his  pedagogic  career  and  serve  to  reveal  the  causes 
of  its  special  character,  must  always  be  of  interest 
in  the  educational  history  of  a  century  in  which  he 
is  destined  to  be  a  most  prominent  figure. 

Friedrich  Froebel  was  born  in  a  village  near 
Rudolstadt  in  1782. 
Schools  seem  to  have  had 
little  to  do  with  the  train- 
ing of  his  lively  and  un- 
settled, but  always  reflect- 
ively observant  youthful 
years  ;  for  in  an  autobiog- 
raphic sketch,  he  describes 
vividly  and  almost  exclu-  froebel,  i782-i852 

sively,  his  inner  experiences,  during  this  period,  his 
observations  of  nature  and  the  germs  of  ideas  which 
thence  originated,  and  the  various  spiritual  influences 
exerted  on  him  by  his  home,  by  his  father,  a  rigidly 
pious  and  upright  clergyman  of  severe  orthodoxy, 
and  by  a  maternal  uncle  of  a  more  genial  type  to 
whom  several  years  of  his  boyhood  were  entrusted. 
Of  schools  he  makes  little  mention,  but  of  the  lack 
of  a  mother's  fostering  care  he  expresses  a  keen 
consciousness,  and  to  this  fact  we  probably  owe  the 
idea  of  the  kindergarten. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen,  with  some  knowledge  of 
natural  history  and  mathematics,  picked  up  l)y  his 
own  eff"orts  while  working  for  a  forester,  he  betook 


398  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

himself  to  the  university  of  Jena.  During  the  brief 
time  that  his  slender  means  permitted  him  to  remain 
here,  he  seems  always  to  have  been  seeking  confirm- 
ation of  an  idea  that  he  had  early  conceived  of  the 
inner  unity  of  all  things.  As  he  himself  expressed 
it,  he  sought  "  guidance  to  an  inner  living  connec- 
tion and  representation,  of  inward  and  comprehen- 
sive conformity  to  law."  One  of  his  disciples  thus 
formulates  this  early-conceived  idea  :  "  The  oneness 
of  the  laws  of  the  universe  with  the  laws  of  the 
spirit  must  be  recognized,  and  every  man  must 
acknowledge  matter  to  be  the  form  for  the  realizing 
of  thought." 

Then  came  a  brief  period  devoted  to  various 
bread-winning  avocations,  and  to  the  care  of  his 
dying  father.  Finally,  on  his  way  to  Frankfort  to 
become  an  architect,  he  seems  to  have  hit  on  the 
idea  that  formed  his  life-work  ;  for  he  wrote  to  a 
friend  engaged  in  agriculture,  "  Do  thou  give  men 
bread  ;  be  it  my  effort  to  give  men  to  themselves^ 

In  Frankfort  he  met  Griiner,  the  director  of  the 
model  school  in  that  city,  and,  at  his  suggestion, 
abandoned  the  idea  of  being  an  architect,  and  became 
a  teacher  in  his  school.  Here  he  says,  "  I  felt 
myself  as  it  were  in  my  long-missing  element,  and  I 
was  as  happy  as  a  fish  in  water,  or  a  bird  in  the 
air." 

In  1808.  having  become  tutor  to  two  high-born 
boys,  he  went  with  them  to   Yverdun,  and  for  two 


FROEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN     399 

years  was  a  vigorous  co-laborer  with  Pestalozzi. 
Here  he  not  only  gained  the  central  idea  of  his 
master's  system,  the  idea  of  genuine  human  develop- 
ment and  its  conditions,  but  he  improved  on  Pesta- 
lozzi's  idea  of  self-activity  by  extending  it  to  the 
entire  nature  of  the  child  :  thus  he  demands  that 
all  the  capabilities  of  the  pupil's  nature  shall  con- 
stantly be  in  a  state  of  pleasurable  activity,  adapted 
to  each  individual  being,  that  he  may  realize  "  in  a 
peculiar,  personal,  and  unique  manner"  his  own 
special  nature.  Practically  also,  he  excelled  Pesta- 
lozzi in  his  emphasizing  of  successive  development, 
— such  a  development  that  the  child  should  com- 
pletely live  through  every  one  of  its  stages,  and 
really  gain  what  it  is  capable  of  imparting.  To 
this  he  added  the  idea,  on  which  he  always  laid 
much  stress,  that  the  order  of  development  of  the 
individual  is  analogous  with  that  of  the  race,  an 
idea  which  we  have  already  seen  suggested  by 
Kant  (p.  31(3),  and  which  is  now  undergoing  ingen- 
ious discussion  as  to  its  pedagogic  applicability,  of 
which  Froebel  never  doubted. 

We  may  also  refer  to  his  experience  at  Yverdun, 
the  conscious  embodiment  of  Froebel's  principle, 
that  "  from  the  deed,  from  doing,  must  genuine  edu- 
cation and  development  of  the  human  being  begin  ;  " 
that  living,  doing,  and  apprehending,  go  hand  in 
hand  in  varying  proportions  in  his  culture  ;  and  that 
not  merely  should  a  lively  curiosity  be  awakened  by 


400  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

the  presentation  of  things  before  ideas  and  words, 
but  also  that  bodily  activity,  or  doing  correspond- 
ing thereto,  should  at  once  be  elicited. 

Returning  from  Yverdun  in  1810,  he  spent  two 
years  in  the  study  of  languages,  and  of  sciences  for 
which  he  always  had  a  special  fondness,  in  the 
universities  of  GOttingen  and  Berlin  ;  served  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  army  of  liberation  in  1813,  where 
he  cemented  memorable  friendships  with  two  of  his 
future  co-laborers  ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
became  an  assistant  in  the  mineralogical  museum 
of  Berlin.  In  this  last  position,  while  communing 
with  dead  minerals,  he  formulated  the  idea  of  the 
law  of  "  The  Reconciliation  of  Polar  Opposites  ",  as 
the  unifying  law  of  life  and  therefore  of  education, 
— a  law  which  those  familiar  with  his  writings  will 
recognize  as  playing  an  important  part  in  his  theory 
of  education. 

In  1817,  he  initiated  his  work  of  liuman  education 
in  a  school  at  Keilhau,  beginning  with  six  boys  ; 
his  two  old  army  friends,  Middendorff  and  Lange- 
thal,  soon  associated  themselves  to  his  undertaking  ; 
and  the  school  grew  apace  until  it  numbered  sixty 
pupils.  But  with  its  growing  reputation  hostility 
also  arose  :  the  government  was  asked  to  obliterate 
"  this  nest  of  demagogues  "  :  instead  of  doing  this,  a 
prominent  school  man  was  sent  to  examine  the 
accused  institution  :  his  report  was  not  merely  favor- 
able,   but  eulogistic  :  still  the    opposition    gathered 


FROEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN     401 

force,  the  attendance  of  the  school  dechned,  and  in 
1831,  Froebel  left  it  in  the  hands  of  a  friend. 

During  the  next  nine  years,  he  lived  partly  in 
Switzerland,  where  he  promoted  several  educational 
undertakings,  and  partly  in  Berlin.  Here  the  idea 
of  the  Kindergarten  first  took  form,  and  finally  in 
1837,  the  first  school  of  the  kind  was  opened  in 
Blankenburg,  near  his  birthplace.  It  sprang  from 
his  growing  conviction,  that  "  the  rousing  of  the 
need  to  learn  must  precede  learning,  and  that  orig- 
inating signifies  a  human  activity,  which  has  indeed 
welled  forth  from  the  inner  life,  but  which  in  turn 
reacts  upon  its  source,  developing  and  quickening 
it ;  "  and  that  "  Education  has  and  retains  a  healthy 
basis,  conformable  to  its  true  nature,  only  where 
woman  puts  fqrtli  all  her  power  for  the  development 
of  the  tender  human  bud  in  the  life  of  the  child." 

This  great  original  enterprise,  however,  though 
approved  by  cities  and  princes,  did  not  escape  oppo- 
sition. It  was  accused  of  atheism  and  socialism; 
and  on  these  grounds  it  was  prohibited  in  Prussia 
in  1851.  This  prohibition  was  rescinded  later, 
when  the  idea  of  the  kindergarten  had  spread  to 
many  lands  ;  but  not  in  time  to  cheer  its  venerable 
apostle,  who  died  in  June,  1852. 

A  German  admirer  of  Froebel  pithily  says  of  him 
that  the  novel  thing  in  the  kindergarten  'Ms  the 
consecration  and  S3'stematic  utilization  of  play." 
The  same  author,  contrasting  the  idea  of  Fichte, 


402  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

who  would  withdraw  children  from  the  family  be- 
cause of  the  evil  influences  too  often  found  there, 
and  would  train  them  in  public  establishments, 
Spartan  fashion,  with  that  of  Pestalozzi  who  looked 
for  early  training  to  mothers  guided  by  his  method 
books, — says  of  Froebel  that  he  stands  between 
these  two  extremes.  "  He  has  struck  the  medium 
by  the  idea  of  the  kindergarten.  He  would  have 
the  children  taken  from  the  home  for  a  time,  but 
only  with  a  view  of  aiding  the  mother.  He  would, 
like  Fichte,  have  education  in  common,  in  order  to 
limit  the  feeling  of  individuality,  and  then  let  it 
have  full  play,  that  selfishness  may  not  spring  up, 
or  that  it  may  be  nipped  in  the  bud." 

In  the  kindergarten  Froebel  recognizes,  provides 
for,  and  utilizes  two  of  the  most  obvious  and  uni- 
versal instincts  of  childhood  :  the  instinct  of  activity 
expressing  itself  in  childish  uneasiness,  and  the 
instinct  of  sociality  in  virtue  of  which  the  child  craves 
the  companionship  of  his  equals  in  age.  Through 
the  latter  instinct — more  wisely  than  Rousseau — 
he  seeks  to  promote  most  effectively  the  moral 
education  even  of  infancy  by  nourishing  the  germs 
of  habits  for  social  life.  He  sees  too  in  the  ceaseless 
activity  of  the  child  an  indication  of  his  uncon- 
scious effort  to  express  his  inner  nature  in  outward 
act,  to  give  body  to  spiritual  impulse,  "to  impart  to 
life  in  the  spirit  an  outward,  finite,  and  transient 
being."     He  thus  ideally  ennobles  the  restlessness  of 


FROEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN     403 

young  human  life,  and  infers  from  it  the  need  of 
"  training  the  child  early  for  outer  work,  for  creative 
and  productive  activity  ",  as  a  means  for  his  com- 
})lete  development.  Thus  too,  he  both  makes  the 
plays  of  children  even  more  amusing  and  inspiring 
to  them  by  a  regulated  association  with  other  chil- 
dren, and  by  a  wise  guidance  in  a  kindly  spirit, 
converts  their  efforts  for  amusement  into  an  effective 
means  for  developing  their  physical  capabilities, 
their  senses,  their  feelings  and  their  intelligence. 

That  the  application  of  his  pedagogic  doctrines 
took  the  form  of  the  kindergarten,  was  due  almost 
entirely  to  his  bitter  recollection  of  his  own  early 
years,  controlled  by  an  uns3'mpathetic  stepmother. 
He  said  himself,  in  an  address  to  a  society  of  ladies 
in  Hamburg,  that  he  was  striving  to  rescue  other 
children  from  such  unhappiness  and  misdirection 
as  he  had  endured,  by  insuring  them  the  mother- 
like element  in  their  early  training.  This,  there- 
fore, furnishes  the  key  to  his  idea  of  how  the 
kindergarten  should  be  conducted,  like  the  wise  and 
sympathetic  mother. 

Furthermore,  it  should  be  observed  that  Froebel's 
doctrine  as  embodied  in  the  kindergarten  leads 
direct  to  that  study  of  the  child  which  Rousseau  so 
eloquently  advocated,  and  which  is  now  receiving 
so  promising  attention.  The  child  is  to  be  studied 
that  we  may  take  advantage  for  his  future  develop- 
ment of  his  real  inner  nature  and  of  his  instinctive 


404  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

promptiDgs  to  activity.  This  study  is  to  be  so  con- 
ducted in  many  directions,  that  we  may  so  guide 
this  nature  and  utilize  these  activities,  as  to  assure 
the  generation  of  manifold  and  permanent  interests. 
Froebel's  idea,  therefore,  of  early  education  as  "  pas- 
sive and  following  ",  grows  out  of  his  belief  that  the 
child's  unthwarted  instincts,  which  are  to  be  studied, 
will  unconsciously  lead  him  to  that  which  is  best  for 
his  development,  "and  moreover  in  a  form  wholly 
adapted  to  his  condition,  as  well  a^  to  his  disposition, 
his  powers,  and  his  means."  W.hatever  may  be 
thought  of  the  universal  validity  of  this  idea,  it  is 
certainly  more  reasonable  than  Rousseau's  notion  of 
losing  time  that  we  may  not  go  amiss,  since  it  directs 
to  that  accuracy  of  observation  by  which  alone 
errors  may  be  avoided.  It  is,  indeed,  an  effort  to 
solve  the  problem  which  Montaigne  first  clearly 
indicated  (p.  87),  and  which  arises  from  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  indications  of  childish  powers  and 
predilections.  Early  education  is  to  be  "passive 
and  following",  solely  that  it  may  be  effectively 
adapted  to  the  inner  nature  of  the  child. 

Finally  it  may  be  said  that  the  doctrines  of 
Froebel  show  a  remarkable  coincidence  in  purpose 
with  those  of  his  contemporary  Herbart.  Certainly 
no  one  has  done  more  to  insure  in  the  child  the 
germination  of  manifold  interests  and  to  prepare 
for  their  permanence.  Froebel's  idea  of  unity,  which 
as  he  expresses  it,  would  lead  man  "  to  peace  with 


FroeBel  and  the  kindergarten         405 

himself  and  to  unity  with  God  ",  is  obviously  only 
another  statement  of  the  idea  of  inward  freedom, 
according  to  which  one  is  free  because  the  subordin- 
ation of  his  baser  tendencies,  and  the  intelligent 
love  and  pursuit  of  truth  and  goodness,  make  him 
free  through  being  at  one  with  himself.  In  this 
sense,  some  one  has  said  of  Froebel  that  "  he  is  the 
pedagogic  apostle  of  freedom."  The  idea  of  unity 
on  which  he  so  emphatically  insists,  would  likewise 
have  as  its  natural  corollary,  the  coordination  of 
branches  in  programmes,  and  tlie  correlation  of 
studies  in  teaching.  And  since  with  Froebel  "  doing 
good  is  the  link  that  unites  man  with  the  Creator," 
he  makes  moral  goodness  through  right  willing  and 
benevolent  purpose  the  supreme  end  of  education. 
Thus  these  two  men,  who  are  the  greatest  pedagogic 
forces  of  the  century,  are  at  one  in  their  most  funda- 
mental purposes. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

PROFESSIONAL    PREPARATION    OF    TEACHERS   AND 
SCHOOL    SUPERVISION 

(IV)  As  has  already  been  seen,  the  need  of  some 
professional  preparation  for  the  business  of  teaching 
had  come  to  be  apprehended  in  the  18th  century; 
and  about  the  middle  of  that  centuiy,  the  first  defi- 
nite public  provision  for  that  purpose  had  been  made 
in  Germany,  and  somewhat  later  in  Austria.  We 
have  also  seen  that  the  movement  once  begun,  had 
attained  considerable  proportions,  more  than  thirty 
Teachers'  Seminaries  having  been  established  in 
Germany  before  1800. 

This  movement  has  progressed  during  the  present 
century,  until  now  all  schools  in  Germany  are  sup- 
plied with  well-trained  and  thoroughly  tested  teach- 
ers. And  not  only  is  this  true,  but  the  example 
of  Germany  has  been  influential  in  most  other 
European  states  and  in  America,  provisions  more  or 
less  effective  for  the  training  of  teachers  having 
widely  been  made.  Of  this  France  is  a  striking 
example.  Already  previous  to  1833,  according  to 
Guizot,  47  primary  normal  schools  had  been  estab- 
lished by  the  voluntary  efforts  of  the  towns  or 
departments.     These   were   adopted   by   Guizot  as 

(406) 


teachers'  professional  preparation      407 

governmental  institutions,  whilst  he  also  encouraged 
the  nurseries  for  teachers  afforded  by  various  relig- 
ious bodies.  The  system  has  had  such  growth  that 
it  has  recently  been  reported  that  France  has  now 
172  well-equipped  normal  schools,  being  one  for 
every  222,000  of  her  population. 

A  beginning  of  training  schools  in  Great  Britain 
was  made  in  Glasgow  in  1827  by  David  Stow,  in  liis 
Normal  Seminary  which  gained  a  great  reputation  ; 
and  already  not  only  are  a  considerable  number  of 
Training  Colleges  doing  effective  work,  but  profes- 
sorships of  pedagogy  have  been  founded  in  two  of 
the  Scottish  Universities,  and  provisions  for  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  pedagogic  instruction  have  been 
made  in  the  great  English  Universities. 

In  the  states  of  Western  Europe,  the  problem  of 
supplying  the  schools  with  properly  trained  teachers 
is  comparatively  a  simple  one.  Its  elements  are 
known,  and  admit  of  definite  calculation.  The 
population  is  so  dense  as  to  facilitate  the  easy  col- 
lection of  the  children  into  schools  of  a  considerable 
size.  Teaching  is  a  permanent  and  well-recognized 
employment  which  few  or  no  teachers  expect  ever 
to  change.  Hence  tlie  numbers  annually  needed  to 
supply  vacancies  by  death  or  old  age  can  be  closely 
estimated,  and  the  supply  provided  for  in  the  insti- 
tutions for  the  training  of  teachers. 

In  America  the  elements  in  the  problem  of  the 
supply  of  teachers  are  by  no  moans  so  simple.     Out- 


408  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

side  of  the  cities  aud  villages,- the  population  is 
usually  so  widely  scattered  that  schools  of  a  proper 
size  for  economy  of  teaching  are  not  easily  gathered, 
thus  calling  for  an  undue  multiplication  of  teachers. 
Again,  teaching  has  not  become  recognized  as  a 
permanent  vocation.  Few  teachers  look  to  it  as 
their  life  work  ;  a  large  majority  are  women  who 
abandon  the  calling  when  they  marry,  if  not  earlier  ; 
the  terms  of  service  for  which  they  are  engaged, 
rarely  more  than  a  year,  are  often  less  ;  in  the  year 
1894,  of  the  32,929  teachers  employed  in  the  schools 
of  New  York,  7033,  or  more  than  21  per 'cent, 
taught  less  than  a  year  ;  and  yet  the  State  of  New 
York  is  probably  a  favorable  example  of  perma- 
nency of  tenure. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  is  obvious  that  efforts 
to  recruit  the  body  of  teachers  closely  resemble  an 
attempt  to  fill  a  sieve  with  water.  It  is  probable 
that  to  place  the  average  term  of  service  of  those 
who  teach  at  five  years  would  be  an  over-estimate. 
Obviously  then  the  solution  of  this  problem  by  the 
agency  of  normal  schools,  which  is  successful  in  the 
Old  World,  cannot  yet  be  successful  in  the  New. 
Local  and  temporary  needs  must,  for  a  considerable 
period  still,  be  supplied  from  local  and  merely  tem- 
porary sources  ;  and  it  needs  no  little  pedagogic 
sagacity  to  do  this  as  effectively  as  the  circumstances 
permit. 

The  problem    of  providing   teachers   with   some 


teachers'  professional  preparation      409 

previous  training  was  first  attacked  in  this  country 
on  the  side  of  local  supply,  by  the  designation,  in 
1835  of  eight  academies  in  different  sections  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  train  teachers'  classes,  the 
State  paying  each  academy  $400  for  this  service. 
The  scheme,  which,  as  first  attempted,  was  some- 
what too  ambitious  for  its  purpose,  has  undergone 
various  modifications  and  received  a  great  extension, 
entirely  justifying  its  wisdom  by  its  results  in  pro- 
moting better  instruction  in  the  rural  schools.  In 
the  year  1888-9  more  than  a  hundred  such  classes 
were  in  progress,  giving  some  training  to  2,469 
accepted  candidates. 

The  more  stringent  regulations  adopted  in  1889-90 
naturally  caused  some  diminution  in  the  number  of 
both  institutions  and  accepted  candidates  ;  yet  in 
1890,  103  such  classes  were  organized  with  a  mem- 
bership of  1827  pupils,  and  in  1894,  there  were  227 
half-year  classes  with  about  3,000  accepted  mem- 
bers. The  marked  advance  in  the  requirements 
made  in  1895  by  the  present  able  State  suj^erinten- 
dent,  evinces  a  purpose  to  make  the  imj^rovement 
of  the  rural  teachers  a  notable  feature  of  his  ad- 
ministration, and  in  this  wise  eff'ort  he  is  admira- 
bly seconded  by  the  energetic  supervisor  of  training 
classes.  The  State  had  for  a  considerable  period 
appropriated  $30,000  annually  for  the  support  of 
these  training  classes  ;  in  1894,  $48,840  was  thus 


410         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

# 

expended,    and  it  is  obvious  how  effective  such  a 
provision  may  be  made  for  its  special  purpose. 

In  1843  another  and  even  wider-reaching  means 
was  devised  for  improving  in  some  degree  the  local 
and  temporary  supplies  of  teachers  for  rural  schools, 
a  means  which  from  its  effectiveness  in  bettering  the 
quality  of  instruction  and  in  the  wide  diffusion  of 
better  educational  ideals,  has  been  generally  adopted 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  This  means  is 
the  County  Institute,  devised  by  Mr.  J.  S.  Denman, 
who  organized  the  first  institute  ever  held,  in  1843, 
in  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  Held  annually  for  a  week  by  ex- 
perienced conductors,  who  give  familic^r  illustrations 
of  the  most  important  principles  of  instruction  and 
management,  these  institutes  act  the  part  of  both  ele- 
mentary training  school  and  teachers'  association, 
with  young  persons  who  otherwise  would  in  many 
cases  have  no  pedagogic  knowledge  and  little  idea 
of  the  system  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

Wisely  adapted  for  their  purpose  as  are  the 
Teachers'  Institutes  and  the  Teachers'  Classes  in 
Academies  and  High  schools,  and  great  as  is  the 
good  they  have  done  in  raising  the  character  of  the 
instruction  given  in  the  rural  schools  by  young  per- 
sons with  whom  teaching  is  only  a  temporary  em- 
ployment, it  may  readily  be  seen  that  they  are  but 
supplements,  rendered  necessary  by  a  passing  con- 
dition, to  that  more  complete  training  for  the  work 
of  the  teacher  which  may  truly  be  called    profes- 


teachers'  professional  preparation      411 

sional.  In  this  respect  also,  in  the  foundation  and 
support  of  normal  schools,  the  record  of  the  United 
States  has  been  very  creditable,  when  we  consider 
the  great  difficulty  that  has  been  mentioned  of 
filling  the  ever-vanishing  ranks  of  an  evanescent 
vocation. 

Massachusetts  led  the  way  in  establishing  normal 
schools  by  opening  three  in  1839  and  1840.  New 
York  followed  her  example  in  1844  by  founding  a 
normal  school  at  her  State  capital.  At  present 
Massachusetts  has  six  such  schools,  and  New  York 
eleven ;  and  nearly  31  per  cent  of  the  teachers  of 
Massachusetts  are  graduates  of  her  normals,  while  6 
per  cent  more  have  had  some  professional  training. 

And  here  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  Massachusetts 
owes  the  honor  of  being  the  j)'ioneer  in  the  Normal 
School  enterprise  to  Horace  Mann,  then  secretary  of 
her  Board  of  Education. 
For  his  sagacious  foresight, 
his  untiring  and  unselfish 
devotion,  and  his  great 
pecuniary  sacrifices  for  her 
schools,  and  especially  for 
her  normal  schools,  that 
noble  commonwealth  owes 
to  him  a  del>t  of  gratitude 
which  nothing  but  perma-  Horace  mann,  1796-18.59 
nent  remembrance  can  repay.  When,  many  years 
later,  the  Massachusetts  legislature  set  on  foot  an 


412         THE    HISTORY    OF   MODERN    EDUCATION 

investigation  with  the  view  of  repaying  some  of  his 
many  advances  in  the  service  of  the  schools,  they 
found  him  very  reticent  about  telling  what  he  had 
done  in  spending  money  from  his  own  purse.  "  They 
had  bettor,"  he  said,  "come  under  the  rule  of  not 
letting  the  left  hand  know  what  the  right  hand 
doeth."  But  many  other  witnesses  of  his  sacrifices 
were  found.  Notably,  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy  testified 
that  Mr.  Mann  sold  his  library  for  money  to  furnish 
one  of  the  normal  schools,  and  that  he  mortgaged 
his  property  for  $'2,000  to  secure  money  for  com- 
pleting two  of  the  buildings  ;  and  then  he  added  : 
"  Massachusetts  owes  the  existence  of  two  of  her  nor- 
mal school  buildings  to  the  advances  made  by  two 
gentlemen  to  complete  the  first." 

The  committee  in  their  Report,  recommending 
the  appropriation  to  Mr.  Mann  of  a  considerable 
sum,  which  recommendation  passed  both  houses  by 
an  unanimous  vote,  say  of  him  :  "  What  he  has 
done,  he  meant  at  the  time  for  a  gift,  and  the  Com- 
mittee do  not  propose  to  deprive  him  of  the  title  of 
a  benefactor."  Horace  Mann  was  therefore,  not 
merely  the  pioneer  in  America  in  the  work  of  im- 
proving schools,  to  which  his  famous  Seventh  Report 
contributed  so  much,  and  his  other  excellent  Reports, 
his  Addresses,  and  his  many  controversies  with  re- 
actionaries contributed  still  more ;  but  he  was 
emphatically  the  father  of  normal  schools  in  his 
native  country. 


SCHOOL   SUPERVISION  413 

Not  only  have  most  of  the  other  States  now  estab- 
lished normal  schools,  but  it  is  becoming  common 
for  the  considerable  cities  to  recruit  their  corps  of 
teachers  by  training-classes  of  their  own,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  usually  graduates  from  the  high 
schools.  Moreover  since  1873,  professorships  of  ped- 
agogy have  been  established  in  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  American  universities,  in  which  instruction 
is  given  in  the  science,  art,  and  history  of  education 
to  those  who  are  to  become  teachers  in  colleges  and 
high  schools,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  demand  for 
this  higher  and  more  scientific  instruction  in  peda- 
gogy is  rapidly  increasing. 

The  few  details  that  have  been  given  concerning 
the  rapid  growth  of  professional  training  for  teachers, 
are  sufficient  to  show  that  Ratich's  most  valuable 
idea  has  borne  abundant  fruit  in  the  19th  century. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Jesuits  led  the  way  in  pro- 
viding for  frequent  and  careful  supervision  of  the 
work  of  the  teachers  in  their  schools.  Such  a  pro- 
vision is  now  acknowledged  to  be  of  a  degree  of 
importance  second  only  to  that  of  the  professional 
training  of  teachers,  since  it  insures  that  the  work 
of  the  schools  shall  correspond  in  a  good  degree  to 
whatever  educational  ideal  exists,  and  at  the  same 
time  gives  to  teachers  the  assurance  that  their 
merits  will  be  recognized  whilst  their  faults  will  not 
escape  notice. 

Francke  and  von  Rochow  also  had  supervising 


414  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

officers  for  their  schools  ;  but  I  have  at  present  Uttle 
iuformation  as  to  the  extent  to  which  tlie  idea  of 
supervision  by  competent  officers  had  spread  during 
the  18tli  century.  It  is  certain  that  it  has  become  a 
marked  characteristic  of  the  school  organizations  of 
the  present  century,  and  that  it  is  one  to  which 
much  of  the  improvement  in  our  popular  schools  is 
due.  In  countries  like  Germany  and  France,  the 
system  is  elaborate,  extending  from  a  Minister  of 
Instruction  with  his  council  down  through  provincial 
bodies  to  local  boards,  thus  giving  to  all  classes  of 
schools  a  close  and  careful  supervision.  In  Eng- 
land also  the  work  of  her  Majesty's  Insj^ectors  and 
their  reports  have  been  of  such  a  character  as  to 
attract  attention  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  Great 
Britain. 

In  the  United  States,  where,  from  the  too  general 
lack  of  professional  training,  close  supervision  is 
most  imperative,  it  has  in  too  many  cases  become  by 
no  means  effective.  In  most  large  cities  and  in 
many  smaller  ones,  there  is  careful  local  supervision, 
and  its  benefits  are  very  apparent.  Most,  if  not  all 
of  the  States,  also  have  State  Superintendents  of 
Instruction  under  various  names  ;  and  quite  a  num- 
ber have  County  Superintendents,  but  this  is  far 
from  general ;  yet  where  such  officers  exist  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  name,  the  effects  of  their  work  are 
sj^oken  of  in  high  terms, — although  in  some  cases, 
e.  g.  in  Pennsylvania,  the  number  of  schools  is  so 


SCHOOL   SUPERVISION  415 

great  as  to  render  even  annual  visits  to  all  the 
schools  impossible. 

lu  Massachusetts,  where  town  committeemen  have 
been  charged  with  the  nominal  oversight  of  the 
rural  schools,  the  results  have  been  so  little  satisfac- 
tory, that  in  recent  years,  besides  six  able  general 
inspectors  of  schools,  contiguous  townships  have 
been  encouraged  to  unite  in  securing  competent 
superintendents  ;  and  the  last  report  of  that  State 
shows  that  143  such  superintendent-districts  had 
been  formed  at  the  end  of  1893. 

In  the  State  of  New  York,  where  great  advances 
have  been  made,  the  supervision  of  rural  schools 
has,  since  1856,  been  assigned  to  commissioners, 
elected  every  three  years,  of  whom  there  are  now 
altogether  113  for  the  State.  These  officers  examine 
and  license  teachers  under  the  direction  of  the  State 
Superintendent,  from  whose  office,  by  a  recent 
arrangement,  the  examination  questions  emanate ; 
collect  and  collate  the  reports  of  the  schools ;  dis- 
tribute the  school  moneys  ;  take  care  that  the  school 
laws  are  obeyed  ;  settle  questions  of  dispute  in  the 
schools,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  State  Super- 
intendent ;  and  usually  inspect  every  school  at  least 
twice  in  the  year. 

The  duties  here  enumerated  may  readily  be  seen 
to  be  very  important  for  the  success  of  the  schools, 
as  well  as  for  their  effective  and  economical  manage- 
ment ;  and  where  such  efficient  provision  is  lacking. 


416  THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN    EDUCATION 

as  it  still  is  in  too  many  cases,  there  the  beneficial 
returns  for  money  expended  will  be  found  to  be 
smaller  than  they  should  be.  Even  skilful  work- 
men are  found  universally  to  do  more  and  better 
work  with  careful  oversight.  In  teaching  alone  is 
the  expenditure  of  vast  sums  of  money  to  promote 
the  most  vital  interests  of  society,  left  to  the  unaided 
discretion  of  people  the  large  majority  of  whom, 
though  well-meaning,  are  young  and  inexperienced. 
Doubtless  the  strong  practical  sense  of  the  American 
people  will  soon  correct  this  anomalous  state  of 
things  where  it  still  exists,  and  this  correction  can- 
not be  applied  too  soon. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

MANUAL    AND    INDUSTRIAL    TRAINING 

(V)  A  prominent  feature  in  the  educational 
activity  of  the  i^reseut  century  is  the  marked  atten- 
tion tliat  has  been  paid  to  Industrial  and  Tech- 
nical training,  and,  in  its  latest  decades,  also  to 
Manual  Training.  It  has  come  to  be  felt  that  the 
modes  by  which  the  arts  and  trades  have  hitherto 
been  acquired  through  a  long  and  tedious  course  of 
apprenticeship,  were  marked  by  much  of  the  rude- 
ness and  the  waste  of  time  which  characterized  the 
mediaeval  methods  of  instruction  in  literary  sub- 
jects ;  and  that  more  refined  and  effective  methods 
were  especially  easy  of  application  in  the  manual 
arts,  through  clear  and  explicit  instruction  in  the 
ways  and  means  of  operations,  to  be  followed  by 
careful  practice  until  skill  in  manipulation  becomes 
habitual. 

It  has  become  obvious  that  thus  by  systematic 
training,  better  and  more  skilful  artisans  could  be 
made  in  much  less  time,  just  as  better  physicians 
and  lawyers  can  be  educated  more  quickly  by 
modern  than  by  mediaeval  methods.  Hence  in  sev- 
eral countries  technical  schools  and  schools  of  arts 
and  trades  have  sprung  up  and  flourished.     In  these 

(417) 


418  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

it  has  been  observed  not  only  that  the  eye  and  the 
hand  are  trained  to  observation  and  to  executive 
skill,  but  also  that  the  intellect  is  sharpened  so  as 
more  readily  and  rapidly  to  grasp  certain  studies 
which  are  needful  auxiliaries  to  technical  skill. 

Hence  the  question  has  seemed  naturally  to 
emerge  whether  some  training  of  the  eye  and  hand 
in  the  use  of  various  tools,  might  not  be  made  a 
useful  auxiliary  to  the  more  purely  literary  work  of 
all  classes  of  children,  whatever  might  be  their 
future  destination.  This  last  is  the  question  of 
manual  training,  now  so  much  agitated,  and  is  in  a 
considerable  degree  distinct  from  the  question  of 
technical  and  industrial  education ;  since  in  the 
former,  the  training  of  eye  and  hand  is  considered 
more  purely  in  its  disciplinary,  and  in  the  latter 
more  exclusively  in  its  utilitarian  aspects. 

The  idea  of  both  manual  and  industrial  training, 
though  it  has  come  to  make  so  prominent  a  figure 
in  the  educational  history  of  the  19th  century,  is  by 
no  means  of  very  recent  origin.  Without  going 
back  to  the  well-known  industrial  feature  of  Solon's 
laws,  it  will  not  be  inappropriate  to  bring  together 
in  one  view  some  of  the  more  important  steps  in  the 
development  of  this  idea  in  the  last  three  centuries. 
Many  of  the  facts  have  already  been  mentioned  in 
the  })revious  pages. 

The  earliest  definite  plan  for  an  Industrial  School 
that  has  come  to  my  knowledge,  is  that  of  Sir  AVm. 


MANUAL    AND    INDUSTRIAL    TRAINING  419 

Petty  in  1647,  which  may  h?  found  in  vohimo  XI 
of  Barnard's  American  Journal  of  Education.  In 
this  proposal,  whicli  was  dedicated  to  the  same 
Harthb  to  whom  Milton  addressed  his  tractate  on 
education,  Petty  gives  an  enumeration  of  the  handi- 
crafts to  be  attempted,  and  states  the  method  of 
teaching  and  the  studies  which  would  be  auxiliary 
to  the  manual  arts.  "  Let  in  no  case,"  he  says, 
"  the  art  of  drawing  and  designing  be  omitted,  to 
what  course  of  life  soever  tliose  children  are  to  be 
applied  ;  since  the  use  thereof  for  expressing  the 
conceptions  of  the  mind  seems,  at  least  to  us,  to  be 
little  inferior  to  that  of  writing,  and  in  many  cases 
performeth  what  by  words  is  impossible." 

Of  the  advantages  that  he  sees  likely  to  result 
from  his  proposed  school,  some  are  worth  quoting. 
"  Schollers  and  such  as  love  to  ratiocinate  will  have 
more  and  better  matter  to  exercise  their  wits  upon, 
whereas  now  they  pusle  and  tire  themselves  about 
meer  words  and  chymericall  notions."  "There 
would  not  then  be  so  many  fustian  and  unworthy 
preachers  in  divinity,  so  many  quack-salvers  in 
physick,  so  many  pettifoggers  in  the  law,  so  many 
grammaticasters  in  the  schools,  and  so  many  lazy 
serving  men  in  gentlemen's  houses,  when  every  man 
might  learn  to  live  otherwise  in  plenty  and  honour." 

Besides  these,  he  says,  prentices  would  be  able 
sooner  to  master  their  trades,  matlu'inaticians  would 
have  better  subjects  to  investigate.  })hysicians  would 


420  THE    HISTORY    OF    ^rODERN     EDUCATION 

practise  their  professioD  more  wisely,  and  lawyers 
and  divines  would  handle  their  subjects  more  skil- 
fully, from  the  knowledge  which  such  training  im- 
parts. He  alleges  also  the  lively  interest  which  both 
boys  and  girls  have  in  doing  and  the  means  of  doing, 
as  a  reason  why  such  exercises  should  be  set  them, 
■'  as  more  suitable  to  the  natural  })ropensions  we  see 
in  them."  All  this  savors  strongly  of  the  modern 
advocates  of  manual  training. 

Still  earlier  then  this  project  of  Petty,  Comenius 
had  suggested  that  in  his  vernacular,  i.  e.,  element- 
ary schools,  "a  general  knowledge  of  the  mechanic 
arts  should  be  given,  that  boys  may  better  under- 
stand the  affairs  of  ordinary  life,  and  that  oppor- 
tunities may  be  thus  given  them  to  find  out  their 
special  aptitudes."  We  have  also  seen  that  near  the 
close  of  the  17th  century  Mme.  de  Maintenon  at  St. 
Cyr  laid  great  stress  on  feminine  handicrafts,  as  had 
long  been  done  in  convents,  considering  ''  manual 
labor  a  moral  safe-guard  and  a  protection  against 
sin  "  ;  that  Locke  in  1692  insists  that  gentlemen 
should  learn  some  trade  in  order  to  develop  con- 
structive power  ;  and  that  in  1762  Rousseau  empha- 
sizes the  same  idea,  giving  as  a  reason  that  it  would 
afford  a  resource  in  unlooked-for  misfortunes,  and 
even  illustrating  this  idea  by  causing  his  Emile  to 
become  a  captive  and  slave,  where  his  manual  skill 
proves  a  means  of  influence. 

In  1771,  Kindermann,  later  bishop  of  Leitmeritz, 


MANUAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL   TRAINING  421 

became  practically  the  "  Father  of  Industrial  Edu- 
cation "  by  introducing  into  the  schools  of  his 
Bohemian  parish  female  handiwork  for 'girls,  and 
for  boys  practical  instruction  in  the  rural  occupa- 
tions of  the  neighborhood.  These  he  used  because 
he  saw  that  thereby  he  enlisted  the  interest  of  chil- 
dren and  parents  in  his  schools,  and  thus  promoted 
their  literary  efficiency. 

In  1775  and  also  at  a  later  period,  Pestalozzi,  as 
we  have  seen,  undertook  to  unite  the  training  of  the 
senses,  the  mind,  and  the  hand,  and  even  fancied 
that  poor  children  might  be  able  to  pay  by  their 
manual  dexterity  the  expenses  of  their  nurture  and 
training. 

In  ''The  Education  of  Man  ",  Froebel  in  1826 
emphasized  the  need  that  the  child  "  be  trained 
early  for  outer  work,  for  creative  and  productive 
activity,"  as  a  needful  means  for  his  complete  develop- 
ment ;  and  he  says,  "  it  would  be  a  most  wholesome 
arrangement  in  schools  to  establish  actual  working 
hours  similar  to  the  existiug  study  hours,  and  it 
will  surely  come  to  this."  Three  years  later,  he 
pushed  this  idea  farther  by  proposing  to  found  such 
a  school,  in  which  the  morning  hours  should  be 
devoted  to  study,  and  the  afternoon  to  varied  work 
adapted  to  a  wide  range  of  local  circumstances  and 
wants.  His  well-known  Kindergarten,  founded  in 
1887,  embodied  this  with  other  fruitful  ideas,  since 
it  sought  to  develop  manual  capability  in  children 


422  THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

whilst  training  the  senses  and  instilHng  the  germs 
of  moral  ideas. 

In  186(j,  wood-working  under  the  name  of  shyd 
is  said  to  have  been  made  compulsory  in  the  schools 
of  Finland  ;  and  Sweden  and  Denmark  seem  thence 
to  have  derived  the  idea  wdiich  other  nations  know 
chiefly  from  Sweden.  Two  years  later,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity opened  its  technical  training  department, 
and  in  the  same  year  Victor  Delia  Voss  in  Moscow 
solved  the  problem  of  manual  instruction  in  classes. 
Dr.  John  Runkle  in  1877  introduced  this  system  in 
Boston  ;  and  since  then,  few  meetings  of  teachers  or 
school  superintendents  have  failed  to  hear  urged  its 
claims,  its  merits,  and  its  methods,  and  many 
schools  upon  this  plan  have  been  organized  in 
cities. 

France  has  gone  farther  than  any  other  nation  in 
the  direction  of  manual  training,  since  in  1882  a 
decree  was  passed,  devoting  to  it  two  or  three  hours 
per  week  for  youth  between  the  ages  of  seven  and 
thirteen,  prescribing  a  graded  series  of  work  ending 
with  the  use  of  wood-working  tools  and  the  simpler 
means  of  fashioning  iron,  and  making  such  changes 
in  the  course  of  the  normal  schools  as  to  fit  teachers 
to  give  instruction  in  the  use  of  tools. 

Such  then  in  brief  is  a  sketch  of  the  progressive 
development  of  the  idea  of  industrial  and  manual 
training  during  the  past  two  and  a  half  centuries. 
As  it  is  now  urged  by  its  most  prominent  advocates, 


MANUAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL    TRArNINO  423 

manual  training,  sharply  distinguished  from  indusT 
trial  education,  bases  its  claims  chiefly  on  its  value 
as  a  discipline,  in  giving  interest  and  meaning  to 
other  school  studies  ;  in  begetting  respect  for  labor ; 
in  revealing  while  develojiing  inherent  aptitudes, 
thus  widening  the  range  of  choice  for  a  vocation ; 
and  in  fostering  the  feeling  of  independence  by  a 
consciousness  of  the  ability  of  self-support. 

These  are  certainly  weighty  advantages ;  and,  if 
experience  shaws  that  they  can  be  widely  realized, 
manual  training  wall  doubtless  commend  itself  to 
the  careful  consideration  of  all  progressive  educa- 
tors. The  movement  has  encountered  a  vigorous 
opposition,  and  it  is  at  present  too  much  in  the 
experimental  stage  to  permit  any  decisive  judgment 
as  to  its  merits  and  its  general  feasibility.  It  is 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose  to  indicate  it,  in 
connection  with  industrial  and  technical  training, 
as  one  of  the  marked  features  of  the  educational 
history  of  the  19th  century. 


CHAPTER  XX 

IMPROVEMENTS    IN    METHODS     OF    INSTRUCTION 

(VI)  In  studying  the  history  of  education  in  the 
17th  and  18th  centuries,  we  have  had  occasion  to 
examine  the  principles  of  the  educational  reformers, 
and  to  call  attention  to  the  causes  that  were  likely 
to  retard  their  acceptance  in  practice.  It  has  been 
very  obvious  that  these  causes  have  actually  so 
operated, — that,  though  the  fundamental  principles 
of  right  education  which  Comenius  formulated  were 
accepted  and  illustrated  wholly  or  in  part  by  many 
of  the  best  minds  in  both  centuries,  they  still  re- 
mained too  largely  mere  literary  embodiments  of 
ideas  that  had  little  influence  on  the  inner  life  of 
the  schools ;  that  the  actual  schoolmaster,  wedded 
to  his  traditional  routine,  knew  little  and  cared  less 
about  better  methods  of  teaching ;  and  that  hence 
no  considerable  advance  had  been  made  in  reduc- 
ing to  practice  the  reformatory  ideas,  save  in  some 
isolated  instances. 

Francke  had  indeed  done  something,  and  von 
Rochow  more  ;  Basedow  had,  even  in  the  failure 
which  his  idiosyncracies  courted,  attracted  great 
public  attention  to  an  experiment  illustrating  better 
and  more  productive  methods  of  training  the  young ; 

(424) 


IMPROVEMENTS     IX    METHODS  425 

and  all  these  had  doubtless  contributed  to  the  work 
of  putting  the  public  mind  in  that  expectant  and 
receptive  attitude  to  which  Dr.  Dittes  ascribes  the 
remarkable  effects  of  Pestalozzi's  flaming  enthusiasm 
and  self-devotion.  From  this  cause,  from  the  politi- 
cal condition  of  Germany  in  the  first  decade  of  this 
century,  and  from  the  inspiring  addresses  of  Fichte 
to  the  German  nation,  the  reformatory  movement 
was  henceforth  to  centre  about  Pestalozzi  and  to 
bear  his  name. 

Against  this  movement  thus  reinforced,  the  stolid 
conservatism  of  the  school-master  has  proved  power- 
less. All  the  new  educational  agencies  which  the 
19th  century  has  created,  have  aided  in  disseminat- 
ing and  giving  effect  to  the  reformatory  ideas,  and 
have  gained  from  them  their  chief  significance.  The 
newly-created  normal  schools  and  other  agencies  for 
training  teachers  have  inculcated  these  principles  in 
the  new  generation  of  teachers  ;  the  associations  of 
educators  have  impressed  them  by  iteration  on  the 
careless  and  reluctant ;  the  various  governments 
have  first  adapted  the  organization  proposed  by 
Comenius  to  their  own  special  needs,  and  have  then 
enforced  the  practice  of  his  ideas  by  the  agencies  of 
supervision  through  which  they  reach  ever}^  school ; 
the  pedagogic  activity  of  the  century,  through 
treatises,  lectures,  and  essays,  through  text-books 
and  reports,  has  carried  everywhere  the  inspiration 
of  the  ideas  of  the  reformers  under  their  Pestalozzian 


426         THE    HISTORY    OP    MODERN     EDUCATION 

name ;  and  hence  all  these  agencies  are  conspiring 
to  make  the  universal  spread  of  education  a  means 
of  intellectual  happiness  to  the  young,  instead  of  an 
ingenious  device  for  inflicting  on  youth  the  ennui 
and  torture  which  once  characterized  schools. 

Like  so  many  other  educational  improvements, 
Pestalozzianism  gained  its  first  hearty  recognition  in 
Germany,  and  spread  thence  into  other  lands,  until 
now  the  school  practice  of  all  Europe  and  America 
is  becoming  to  an  increasing  extent  influenced 
thereby.  Everywhere  methods  are  becoming  more 
objective  and  observational ;  everywhere  it  is  under- 
stood that  teaching,  to  be  successful,  must  seek  the 
stand-point  of  the  pupil's  experience,  and  advance 
thence  by  steps  adapted  to  his  powers  ;  it  is  gener- 
ally acknowledged  that  memory  should  be  the  hand- 
maid of  understanding,  and  that  the  intellectual 
activity  of  the  pupil  is  the  essential  condition  of  the 
development  of  his  powers ;  and  enlightened  edu- 
cators everywhere  recognize  that  the  short-comings 
of  the  schools  and  the  lack  of  vital  interest  in  pupils, 
are  due  to  the  neglect  or  imperfect  application  of 
these  principles. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed  that  skill  in  the 
application  of  sound  educational  maxims  is  still  far 
less  general  than  recognition  of  their  value.  This  is 
especially  true  in  our  own  country,  because  of  the 
shortness  of  service  and  the  imperfect  training  of  the 
body  of  teachers.     Yet  the  general  acceptance  of 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN    METHODS  427 

sound  doctrine  is  a  fact  of  vast  importance,  and  is 
likely  to  lead  finally  to  better  practice.  In  educa- 
tional periodicals  and  associations,  there  has  been, 
within  the  past  few  years,  a  noticeable  increase  in 
the  amount  of  judicious  suggestion  on  methods  of 
teaching  various  subjects,  but  with  possibly  a  tend- 
ency to  confound  certain  special  modes  of  doing 
things  with  the  fundamental  methods  of  subjects. 
To  this  tendency  the  recent  excellent  Report  of 
'•  The  Committee  of  Ten"  and  its  subsidiary  com- 
mittees seems  likely  to  furnish  a  wholesome  cor- 
rective. 

English-speaking  peoples  have  been  more  back- 
wards than  the  German  or  the  French  in  recogniz- 
ing the  importance  of  the  vernacular  in  instruction. 
Within  the  past  few  years,  however,  a  great  change 
in  this  respect  has  been  perceptible  in  the  United 
States  through  an  influence  proceeding  from  our 
higher  centres  of  learning.  Perfunctory  reading 
exercises  in  which  ready  recognition  of  words  is 
cared  for  more  than  sense,  and  barren  grammar 
lessons  in  which  the  substance  of  the  language  is 
subordinated  to  a  more  conscious  knowledge  of  its 
form,  are  now  largely  felt  to  be  very  insufficient; 
and  at  present  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  in  educa- 
tional periodicals  disquisitions  on  the  teaching  of 
English,  its  literature,  and  its  historic  development, 
side  by  side  with  essays  on  modes  of  presenting 
Latin  and  modern  languages. 


428         THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN   EDUCATION 

Objective  and  laboratory  methods  of  teaching  the 
sciences  of  nature  are  zealously  urged  in  place  of 
the  too  prevalent  study  about  things  in  books.  The 
prevailing  German  method  of  teaching  these  sciences, 
it  may  be  said,  is  by  lessons  thoroughly  illustrated 
by  observation  of  things  and  by  well-chosen  experi- 
ments ;  and  should  we  succeed  in  supplementing  this 
instruction,  in  schools  below  the  college,  by  series  of 
laboratory  exercises  in  which  students  themselves  do 
the  work,  we  shall  probably  be  ahead  of  most  of  the 
world  in  the  application  of  the  principle  ''  to  learn 
by  doing  ". 

This  principle  is  unquestionably  sound,  whatever 
difficulties  may  be  encountered  with  large  bodies  of 
students  in  its  complete  application.  It  is  doubtless 
easier  to  be  applied  in  the  teaching  of  languages  than 
of  science,  from  the  nature  of  the  subject-matter, 
and  hence  we  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  that 
more  than  one  new  method  of  teaching  languages, 
has  claimed  the  public  confidence  during  the  century. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  century,  the  systems  of 
Hamilton  and  Jacotot  attracted  much  attention. 
The  first,  devised  by  James  Hamilton,  an  English 
merchant,  professed  to  give  a  fair  degree  of  mastery 
of  a  language  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  through 
an  interlinear  translation  of  some  familiar  work,  in 
which  the  ^primitive  meanings  of  all  the  foreign 
words,  even  in  idiomatic  expressions,  should  be 
strictly  adhered  to,  and  the  force  of  the  inflected 


IMPROVEMENTS     IN     METHODS  429 

forms  should  be  expressed ;  and  through  the  re- 
peated use  of  whatever  was  thus  learned.  This  curi- 
ous luodification  of  tlie  method  of  Comenius  aud  of 
a  suggestion  of  Locke,  was  introduced  first  in  New 
York  in  1815,  and  later  in  England,  making  for  a 
time  a  good  deal  of  noise ;  but  after  the  death  of  its 
author  in  1831,  it  sunk  out  of  sight.  It  was  signif- 
icant chiefly  as  a  reaction  against  the  old  gram- 
matical S3^stem  of  teaching  languages. 

The  method  of  the  Frenchman  Jacotot,  wdio  died 
in  1840,  if  we  may  judge 
of  it  from  the  presentation 
given  by  his  enthusiastic 
admirer  and  expounder, 
Joseph  Payne,  had  much 
more  both  of  originality 
and  merit  than  'that  of 
Ilaniilton,  besides  being 
applicable  to  other  things 
than  language.     Its  chief  jacotot,  i77o-i840 

maxim  he  thus  expressed, — "  II  faut  apprendre 
quelque  chose,  et  y  rapporter  tout  le  reste,"  which 
may  be  translated, — ''  Master  whatever  you  learn 
and  proceed  by  the  method  of  comparison  and 
correlation." 

That  this  was  the  real  import  of  his  seemingly 
incomplete  maxim,  is  shown  by  the  four  explanatory 
words  which  he  added  to  it,  viz.,  learn,  repeat,  com- 
pare, verify,  i.  e.,  learn  thoroughly  ;  repeat  often  for 


430  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

sure  memory  ;  compare,  to  discriminate,  systematize, 
and  generalize,  thus  assuring  clear  and  distinct 
ideas  ;  verify  by  bringing  principles  to  the  test  of 
facts,  and  by  assuring  the  value  of  facts  as  organiz- 
able  parts  of  a  system  of  thought  through  bringing 
them  under  the  {principle  to  wliich  they  belong. 
Explained  thus,  the  method  of  Jacotot  is  quite  as 
applicable  to  science  and  history  as  to  language, 
which  he  had  specially  in  view.  Its  chief  merit  lies 
in  the  demands  which  it  makes  upon  the  intellectual 
activity  of  the  pupil  in  comparison  and  verification. 

In  the  last  half  of  this  century  we  also  hear  much 
of  the  "  Natural  Method  "  of  learning  languages,  by 
which  should  be  meant  the  nearest  practicable 
approximation  to  the  way  in  which  a  child  learns 
his  vernacular,  that  is  to  say,  by  imitation  and  use. 
For  school  use,  various  systems  "have  been  devised 
to  facilitate  the  acquisition  of  the  words,  idioms,  and 
variable  forms  of  language,  and  to  accustom  pupils 
to  think  and  express  thought  with  the  new  signs  for 
ideas. 

So  far  as  they  are  helpful,  all  these  systems  must 
depend  on  the  frequent  and  varied  use  of  a  growing 
stock  of  words  and  forms  of  expression,  conformed 
to  the  principles  of  the  given  language.  Inasmuch 
as  they  attack  the  grammar  through  the  medium  of 
the  language,  and  master  its  forms  and  principles 
only  so  fast  as  they  are  needed,  they  are  certainly 
more    natural    pcdagogically    than    the    method   of 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN     METHODS  431 

approaching   the   language  through  the  grammar 
which  they  have  so  largely  superseded. 

Meanwhile  these  methods  and  the  others  that 
have  been  mentioned,  owe  their  interest  to  us  in  this 
connection  by  no  means  wholly  to  their  own  intrinsic 
merits  as  improvements,  but  in  an  even  higher 
degree  to  the  testimony  that  they  bear  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  reformatory  ideas  in  educational  practice. 
Previous  ages  had  shown  little  practical  disposition 
to  inquire  about  modes  of  procedure  in  instruction, 
and  still  less  to  devise  and  test  new  ones.  The 
improvements  that  were  made  were  limited  in 
extent  and  limited  in  range  of  influence.  Sound 
theories  of  education  had  far  outstripped  any  effort 
to  realize  them  in  practice.  The  19th  century  has 
shown  a  disposition  to  change  all  this  ;  and  besides, 
whatever  of  substantial  improvement  has  been  made 
reaches  downward  to  the  entire  body  of  youth, 
instead  of  being  limited  to  the  small  numbers  in 
higher  institutions. 

In  one  highly  important  practical  respect  most 
schools  are  still  far  too  backward.  They  regard 
their  work  too  exclusively  as  instruction  and  too 
little  as  education,  the  development  of  inner  worthi- 
ness of  character.  And  yet,  under  conditions  such 
as  now  tend  to  become  prevalent  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  in  which  the  will  of  the  body  of  the 
people  is  becoming  the  real  governing  power,  it  is 
obvious    that   a   well-balanced    character   and    an 


432  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

illuminated  conscience  are  vitally  essential  correlates 
of  an  intelligence  trained  and  informed. 

From  this  defect  in  education  spring  many  public 
and  private  evils  of  which  we  hear  constant  and 
bitter  complaints.  The  public  schools,  having  the 
charge  of  youth  at  the  most  plastic  age,  when 
character  may  most  easily  be  shaped,  present  the 
most  effective  agency  by  which  these  evils  may 
gradually  be  corrected  ;  but  to  do  this,  they  must 
train  and  educate  more,  while  not  instructing  less, 
or  rather  they  must  aim  to  educate  through  instruc- 
tion and  discipline. 

Discipline  also  needs  to  be  regarded,  no  longer  in 
its  lowest  aspect  as  a  means  for  preserving  tolerable 
order  in  schools,  but  as  a  powerful  agent  for  the 
guidance  of  the  feelings  and  the  will,  for  training 
to  honorable  and  upright  conduct,  and  for  assuring 
correct  moral  estimates  of  actions.  When  these  are 
assured,  religious  instruction  will  find  something  in 
the  experiences  of  youth  with  which  to  build  ;  for 
while  religion  forms  the  only  sure  basis  for  character, 
like  other  educative  agencies  it  must  work  witli 
materials  which  the  individual  experience  furnishes, 
in  order  to  assure  reliable  results. 

In  speaking  of  the  improvements  in  educational 
practice  which  the  19th  century  has  initiated,  we 
cannot  fail  to  remark  one  of  its  most  l)rilliant  and 
promising  achievements,  in  the  systematic  direction 


IMPROVEMENTS    IN    METHODS  433 

of  the  playful  instincts  of  young  childhood  by  Froebel 
and  his  disciples. 

It  is  meeting  with  wide  acceptance  in  both  Europe 
and  America ;  and,  if  used  in  a  proper  spirit  as  a 
means  of  healthful  childish  development,  and  not 
to  promote  mere  precocity,  it  offers  a  cheering  pros- 
pect for  that  future  better  condition  of  the  race  for 
which  Kant  looked.  We  ought  to  be  able  to  expect 
from  it  the  measurable  correction  of  some  of  the 
evils  which  writers  on  education  have  in  all  ages 
deplored, — evils,  resulting  from  undirected  or  mis- 
directed youthful  activities,  and  from  deplorable  but 
indelible  immoral  impressions  made  upon  plastic 
childish  minds. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

DISCUSSION    OF    RELATIVE    VALUE    OF    STUDIES 

(VII)  The  Greek  writers  who  treated  of  education 
laid  great  stress  on  the  educational  effects  of  music, 
as  did  all  their  countrymen,  and  the  Roman  writers 
repeat  their  opinions  without  any  considerable  prac- 
tical sympathy  with  them.  But  from  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire  down  to  the  19th  century,  compara- 
tively little  seems  to  have  been  thought  or  said  about 
the  purely  disciplinary  value  of  studies.  When  men 
contended  about  what  should  be  taught  to  youth, 
their  interest  was  centered  on  the  merit  or  absurdity 
of  studies  in  a  literary  point  of  view,  on  their  intrinsic 
value  as  matters  of  knowledge  or  opinion,  or  on  the 
manner  in  which  they  might  affect  accepted  religious 
beliefs.  Latin  was  regarded  as  a  necessary  means 
for  gaining  knowledge,  of  which  it  was  the  accepted 
vehicle.  Greek  and  Hebrew  were  to  be  mastered 
because  in  them  was  embodied  the  word  of  God. 

Great  stress  was  laid  on  useful  knowledge,  with  a 
growing  tendency  in  later  periods  to  attribute  greater 
utility  to  some  kinds  of  knowledge  than  to  others  ; 
but  the  effect  of  studies  in  developing  the  powers  of 
those  who  mastered  them  was  tacitly  assumed  rather 
than  strongly  emphasized.     Certain  unfavorable  re- 

(434) 


RELATIVE    VALUE    OF    STUDIES  435 

suits  of  a  too  exclusive  devotion  to  mathematics 
were,  however,  pointed  out  by  Descartes  and  others. 
Certainly  there  is  shown  no  disposition  to  bring  into 
comparison  and  relative  valuation  various  studies  as 
means  for  disciplining  the  powers. 

In  so  far  as  the  efforts  of  the  Innovators  were 
directed  to  studies,  they  aimed  to  select  such  as 
would  be  most  obviously  useful  to  pupils  in  the 
course  of  life  to  which  they  were  destined  ;  where 
their  attention  was  directed  to  a  reform  of  methods 
of  teaching  by  securing  conformity  to  nature,  they 
recognized  an  order  in  which  subjects  enlist  the 
interest  of  children,  and  in  which  therefore  they 
may  most  successfully  be  taught,  but  with  little 
effort  to  estimate  the  special  formal  efficiency  of  this 
or  that  group  of  studies  in  cultivating  certain  forms 
of  mental  power  or  moral  worth. 

During  the  current  century  there  has  obviously 
been  a  great  change  in  this  respect.  There  has  been 
a  great  increase  in  the  subjects  of  lively  human  in- 
terest and  important  human  use,  and  a  still  greater 
increase  in  the  volume  of  knowledge  that  is  available 
for  the  purposes  of  education.  An  intolerable  pres- 
sure has  thus  been  brought  to  bear  upon  all  kinds 
of  educational  institutions,  and  educators  have  been 
forced  to  ftice  the  question  of  a  selection  among 
many  desirable  subjects  of  study. 

We  are  in  a  period,  therefore,  in  which  it  becomes 
imperative  to  take  careful  account  of  our  pedagogic 


436  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

stock  in  trade,  to  consider  all  subjects  dispassionately, 
and  to  so  rearrange  our  programmes  of  instruction 
as  to  attempt  only  the  practicable,  while  conforming 
them  both  to  the  present  condition  of  culture  and  to 
the  laws  of  growing  mind. 

In  this  readjustment,  not  only  the  classics  which 
have  long  had  a  settled  place  are  to  be  weighed,  and 
the  mathematics  which  during  recent  ages  have  won 
for  themselves  increased  consideration  ;  but  our  mod- 
ern languages  and  their  literature,  history  with  the 
great  increments  of  value  which  it  has  received  from 
later  investigations,  and  the  sciences  of  nature  which 
are  so  largely  the  growth  of  the  19th  century.  Con- 
nected with  these  last  as  intimately  allied  to  them, 
are  the  sciences  of  man,  psycholog}^  and  ethics,  both 
as  subjects  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  selection  of 
studies,  and  as  indispensable  aids  in  the  solution  of 
the  problems  which  selection  and  arrangement 
present. 

In  all  such  periods  of  readjustment,  two  parties  of 
diametrically  opposite  tendencies  are  sure  to  make 
their  appearance  ;  the  Conservatives,  wedded  to  that 
to  which  they  are  accustomed,  deprecating  any 
change,  and  ingenious  to  find  reasons  why  there 
should  be  none,  are  certain  to  forebode  dire  disaster 
as  the  result  of  innovations  on  what  the  past  has 
consecrated  ;  whilst  the  Radicals,  zealous  for  a  thor- 
ough reform,  would  sweep  clean  the  ground,  and 
build  anew  with  fresh  and  often  little-tested  materials 


RELATIVE    VALUR    OP    STUDIES  437 

whicli  they  see  the  most  convincing  reasons  for 
employing. 

Between  these  opposing  parties  and  their  views, 
the  contest  is  sure  to  be  warm  if  not  embittered  ; 
but  from  their^truggle  the  jittuth  is  pretty  sure 
ultimately  to  emerge  triumphant,  though  usually, 
for  reasons  that  have  before  been  given  in  a  differ- 
ent connection,  the  victory  is  apt  to  be  slow  in 
declaring  itself.  Thus,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Renaissance  period,  we  have  witnessed  the  long  and 
envenomed  contest  which  scholasticism  and  its 
methods  waged  against  the  new  s})irit  of  the  age 
with  its  better  subjects  and  its  newly-devised  modes 
of  presentation  ;  and  we  have  been  taught  by  this 
to  expect  that  changes,  to  be  most  beneficial,  must 
be  slowly  wrought. 

The  problem  which  is  presented  to  the  19tli  cen- 
tury is  by  no  means  so  simple  as  that  which  the 
Middle  Ages  offered  to  the  newer  time.  Then  the 
lines  could  be  sharply  drawn  between  scholasticism 
and  the  humanities.  Now  the  conflicting,  and  in 
some  cases,  exclusively  urged  claims  of  four  great 
groups  of  studies  are  to  be  duly  weighed  and  care- 
fully adjusted.  It  is  evident  therefore  that  the  prob- 
lem is  a  delicate  one,  and  needs  to  be  approached  in 
a  wise  and  judicial  spirit, — a  spirit  which  would  not 
needlessly  reject  the  old  because  it  is  old,  nor  accept 
the  new  l)ecause  it  has  the  charm  of  novelty,  but 
would  judge,  decide,  and  readjust  with  all  the  aids 


438         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

which  the  advancing  science  of  man,  and  especially 
of  the  young  man,  can  bring  to  a  consideration  so 
important. 

It  needs  hardly  to  be  said  that  the  educators  of 
the  19th  century  have  attacked  this  problem  with 
great  zeal  and  vigor ;  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  it  can 
not  also  be  said  that  they  have  generally  striven 
impartially  to  reach  the  truth  rather  than  to  sustain 
a  preconceived  opinion.  A  marked  and  most  inter- 
esting feature  of  this  "  Conflict  of  Studies  "  has  been 
a  general  disposition  to  discuss  the  various  groups 
of  studies,  not  merely  in  their  material,  but  also  in 
their  formal  aspect, — not  to  be  content  only  with 
displaying  the  utility  of  some  favored  subjects,  but 
to  show  how  far  and  to  what  purpose  they  train  the 
faculties  of  the  growing  youth  to  use  all  knowledge 
,nost  effectively. 

Thus  we  have  already  seen  that  Herbert  Spencer, 
in    urging     the     superior 
claims  of  sciences  in  edu- 
cation, does   not   deem    it 
sufficient  to  illustrate  what 
he  thinks  the  superior  util- 
ity of  science  for  the  right 
conduct  of  life,  but  goes  on 
to  show  in  what  respects  its 
disciplinary  value  is  great,    sir  wm.  hamiltox,  i788-i856 
Thus  Sir  William  Hamilton,  in  his  trenchant  criti- 
cism of  the  study  of  mathematics*,  says  "  The  ques- 

♦  Edinburgh  Review,  Jan.,  1836. 


RELATIVE    VALUE    OP    StUMES  439 

tion  does  not  regard  the  value  of  mathematical 
science  considered  in  itself  or  in  its  objective  results, 
but  the  utility  of  mathematical  study  in  its  subjec- 
tive effects,  as  an  exercise  of  the  mind  ;  "  and  he 
limits  himself  to  proving  that  "none  of  our  intel- 
lectual studies  tends  to  cultivate  a  smaller  number 
of  faculties  in  a  more  partial  or  feeble  manner  than 
mathematics."  The  touchstone  that  he  applies  is 
wholly  formal  and  disciplinary  efficacy. 

In  like  manner  the  advocates  of  the  classic  lan- 
guages— and  they  have  been  many — abandoning  as 
no  longer  tenable  the  ground  on  which  Montaigne 
and  Locke  considered  Latin  necessary  for  a  gentle- 
man, and  on  wliich  Comenius  and  Milton  proposed 
easier  and  speedier  means  for  its  mastery, — that  is, 
the  ground  that  it  was  indispensable  as  a  medium 
through  wliich  to  learn  things  useful, — have  been 
ingenious,  not  merely  in  urging  other  and  higher 
utilities,  but  also  in  setting  forth  its  wide  range  of 
formal  efficiency  in  the  development  of  the  faculties 
and  capacities  of  youth. 

It  should  here  be  said  that  a  most  significant 
contribution  to  this  discussion  of  relative  values, 
and  one  thoroughly  philosophic  in  tone,  has  very 
recently  been  made  by  the  Report  of  the  "  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  ". 

This  change  in  the  point  of  view  from  which  all 
studies  are  considered  to  an  increasing  degree  in  the 


440  THE    HISTORY    OF     ^rODERX    EDFOATION' 

19th  century,  is  chiefly  significant  because  it  marks 
a  revulsion  from  the  bald  utilitarianism  of  the 
middle  and  later  ages,  to  the  true  Christian  ideal 
of  education,  the  noble  humanitarian  ideal  which 
looks  upon  the  infinite  worth  of  man  as  the  destined 
heir  of  immortality  as  far  more  important  than  any 
of  the  temporary  and  earthly  uses  of  his  activities, 
and  hence  regards  his  development  to  the  full  per- 
fection of  his  nature  as  the  chief  purpose  of  educa- 
tion. 

Thus  the  historic  races,  after  groping  long  for  the 
chief  end  of  man, — after  seeking  it  in  devotion  to 
family  or  caste,  or  state,  in  beauty  or  utility,  or  in  a 
meditative  self-abnegation  which  aims  to  become 
more  than  man  by  being  less  through  neglect  of 
present  duties, — are  finding  it  at  length  in  the  idea 
of  striving  for  tlie  perfection  of  human  nature,  as  a 
corollary  of  the  truth,  so  long  ago  proclaimed  by 
Christ,  of  the  worth  of  the  human  personality. 

Vigorous  as  have  been  the  discussions  concerning 
the  relative  value  and  the  disciplinary  efficiency  of 
studies  w^hich  this  century  has  witnessed  in  all  civil- 
ized countries,  nowhere  have  such  discussions  been 
conducted  Avith  greater  ardor  than  in  Germany,  and 
nowhere  on  the  whole  in  a  broader  and  more  philo- 
sophic spirit.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
sometimes  an  unphilosophic  heat  has  been  displayed, 
and  that  somewhat  too  often,  such  illogical  ad  cap- 
tandum    phrases   as    ''disinterested    studies",    and 


RELATIVE   VALUE   OB'   STULI-ES  441 

''Americanization  of  studies",  have  been  used, — as 
though  studies  valuable  for  discipline  were  any  less 
valuable  because  they  happen  to  be  useful, — or  as 
though  allusions  to  the  possible  crudities  in  thought 
or  practice  of  a  people  engaged  in  taming  a  vast  new 
country,  had  any  place  in  a  grave  educational  dis- 
cussion. 

This  discussion  has  had  the  form  of  a  struggle 
between  the  respective  advocates  of  the  Gymnasien 
and  the  Real-Schulen,  and  has  been  correlated  with 
successive  readjustments  of  the  programmes  of  these 
great  secondary  schools.  In  these  readjustments, 
one  of  which  is  even  now  in  progress  in  Prussia,  the 
disinterested  observer  may  see  a  wise  practical  effort 
to  give  due  weight  to  all  the  great  groups  of  studies, 
viz.,  mathematics,  history,  the  sciences,  and  lan- 
guages, among  which  the  vernacular  is  gaining  a 
large  place. 

The  struggle  has  not  yet  reached  a  definitive  ter- 
mination, but  Professor  Paulsen  of  Berlin,  in  his 
recent  "  History  of  Learned  Instruction  in  Ger- 
many ",  regards  the  tendencies  of  the  movement  as 
sufficiently  marked  to  justify  a  prediction  as  to  its 
future  course.  He  predicts  that  in  the  future  Greek 
is  likely  to  be  relegated  to  the  list  of  occasionally 
chosen  electives ;  that  Latin  may  retain  its  place, 
but  in  a  more  restricted  form  ;  that  the  time  thus 
gained  will  be  given,  in  part  at  least,  to  a  more 
fruitful  study  of  the  vernacular  and  its  literature  in 


442         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATIOJ^ 

their  historic  development ;  and  that  there  is  hkely 
to  be  a  renewal  of  attention  to  the  sciences  of  man, 
— ^philosophy  and  logic,  ethics  and  politics.  Of 
other  groups  of  studies  he  says  little,  evidently  tak- 
ing for  granted  that  they  have  conquered  for  them- 
selves an  amount  of  recognition  that  is  not  likely  to 
grow  less.  The  recent  course  of  events  seems 
already  to  promise  a  verification  of  his  prophecy,  at 
least  in  some  particulars.* 

Whatever  may  be  the  final  outcome  of  the  con- 
troversy long  waged  between  the  humanists  and  the 
scientists, — each  party  looking  exclusively  at  one 
side  of  a  great  complex  truth, — the  world  has  thereby 
had  impressed  upon  it  the  fact  that  all  studies, 
rightly  pursued,  have  a  value  to  the  student  tran- 
scending their  mere  utility  ;  and  the  distinct  recog- 
nition which  the  19th  century  has  thus  given  to  the 
humanitarian  idea  in  education,  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered the  crowning  point  of  its  educational  history. 
For,  when  we  have  solved  the  question  how  to  make 
a  man  of  the  greatest  worth  in  himself,  then  it  will  be 
found  that  both  these  other  weighty  questions  are  also 
solved,  viz.,  how  shall  a  man  be  made  most  useful? 
and,  what  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?  That  man 
will  be  most  useful  who  has  grown  most  completely 

♦From  this  reference  to  Prof.  Paulsen's  opinion,  it  has  been  somewhat 
hastily  inferred  that  the  author  of  this  book  would  favor  the  dropping  of 
Greek  from  the  curriculum.  This  inference  is  by  no  means  warranted. 
The  statement  of  a  tendency  is  hardly  equivalent  to  the  expression  of  a 
wish. 


RELATIVE    VALUE    OF   STUDIES  443 

up  to  the  full  measure  of  his  powers :  that  knowl- 
edge will  be  of  most  worth,  which,  while  minister- 
ing to  his  growth,  has,  by  dint  of  thinking,  been 
so  incorporated  with  his  entire  series  of  experiences 
as  to  be  in  the  fullest  sense  usable. 

So  far  as  I  can  judge,  we  have  now  surveyed  the 
educational  progress  of  the  19th  century  in  the  sev- 
eral aspects  which  will  be  likely  most  forcibly  to 
impress  the  future  historian.  Should  specimens  of 
our  pedagogical  treatises,  essays,  and  periodicals,  of 
our  proceedings,  reports,  and  text-books,  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  historian  of  some  coming  century, 
in  any  reasonably  complete  form,  he  will  doubtless 
credit  us  with  a  degree  of  literary  activity  in  the 
realm  of  pedagogy  hitherto  unprecedented, — while 
possibly  expressing  some  mild  surprise  thai-WfLaj^par- 
ently  laid  so  much  stress  on  text-books.  He  will  be 
likely  to  remark  that  our  essays  towards  a  consist- 
ent organization  of  schools,  were  creditable  for  an 
age  relatively  so  little  enlightened.  He  will  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  19th  century,  edu- 
cation, from  being  the  privilege  of  the  few,  was 
made  the  prerogative  of  the  masses  of  the  people ; 
while  possibly  mentioning,  as  a  remarkable  illustra- 
tion of  the  lingering  rudeness  of  manners,  the  fact 
that  it  was  in  some  cases  found  necessary  to  force  so 
precious  a  boon  as  education  on  unwilling  recipients. 
He  will  give  due  praise  to  our  efforts  in  the  nearly 
new  field   of  training  teachers  for  their  profession, 


444         THE    HISTORY   OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

and  of  providing  for  some  supervision  of  their  work. 
He  will  j:>robably  give  us  credit  for  making  a  toler- 
able attempt,  to  train  hands  and  eyes  as  well  as 
mind,  to  provide  for  technical  education,  and  to 
supersede  by  trades'  schools  the  rude  method  of 
apprenticeship.  He  may  j)Ossibly  note  that  we 
made  some  observable  progress  in  educational  prac- 
tice, but  will  be  quite  as  likely  to  wonder  that 
we  did  not  make  a  more  complete  use  of  the  rich 
stores  of  sound  educational  theory  that  were  ready 
at  our  hands.  And  finally,  should  he  think  it 
worth  his  while  to  read  as  matters  of  antiquarian 
curiosity  our  eager  disputes  over  questions  which  to 
him  have  assumed  the  character  of  axioms,  he  may 
chance  to  observe  that  the  19th  century  seemed  to 
be  dimly  discovering  the  lofty  humanitarian  ideal 
which  had  been  announced  by  the  founder  of  its 
religion,  and  on  which  his  more-favored  age  is  act- 
ing with  clear  consciousness  of  its  demands. 


ANALYTIC   APPENDIX 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 
Valuable  contributions  to  pedagogy  from  antiquity. ix 

(1)  Educational  ideals  of  ancient  nations :  all  national x 

Passive  national  type,  Chinese — Hindoo — Buddhistic,  .xi 

Active  national  type,  Egyptian — Phoenician xi 

Warlike — Persian  and  Spartan xii 

The  esthetic  ideal — Athens xii 

The  utilitarian  ideal — Rome xiii 

Theocratic  ideal — Hebrew xi  v 

Value  of  a  knowledge  of  ideals  and  their  results xiv 

(2)  Branches  of  learning  due  to  the  ancient  world xv 

(3)  Methods  that  we  owe  to  ancient  nations xvi 

(4)  Germs  of  university  system  due  to  Athens xvii 

Noteworthy  Roman  organization  of  schools xvii 

(5)  Athenian  example  of  physical  and  aesthetic  culture,  .xviii 

(6)  Ancient  educational  theories xix 

(a)  Education  an  affair  of  the  State — Plato — Aristotle .  xix 

{b)  Order  of  progressive  development — Aristotle xx 

(c)  Importance  of  songs,  heroic  stories  and  literature,  .xx 
{cl)  Importance    of    early    training — Plato's    ideas    of 

selections xxi 

(e)  Ancient  ideas  of  the  teacher's  vocation xxii 

(/)  Encouragement  given  mostly  to  higher  education  xxiii 

{g)  Ancient  ideas  of  mild  school  discipline xxiv 

(/i)  Apperception  ideas  not  wholly  unknown  to  ancients,  xxiv 
CHAPTER  I 
The  field  of  Modern  Educ.\tion,  from  Ioth  Century..  9 
Facts  needful  to  be  understood  as  preliminaries. 

(a)  Early  educational  arrangements  in  Rome,  etc.     (See 

p.  xvii) 10 

(445) 


446  THE    HISTORY     OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAGE 

(b)  Early  methods,  e.  g.,  Socrates    (See  p.  xvi) 10 

(c)  Educational  ideas  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  etc.   (See  p.  xix).10 

(d)  Ancient  literature  and  several  sciences.     (See  p.  xv).ll 
The  Dark  Ages  in  Western  Europe 12 

Brilliant  Moslem  learning  during  this  period 12 

Byzantine  culture,  its  character  and  later  influence 13 

Mediaeval  Universities,  their  origin 14 

Their  studies  (p.  14)  and  methods 15 

Became  chief  opponents  of  the  Xew  Learning 16 

Guizot's  statement  of  five  causes  of  the  Renaissance 16 

Three  of  these  afforded  favorable  conditions  and  neces- 
sities  17 

Vast  influence  of  the  invention  of  Printing ■..  .18 

Results  of  renewed  acquaintance  with  ancient  culture. 
(See  also  p.  13) 20 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Renaissance,  and  Interesting  Phases    of    16th 

Century  Education 23 

Influence  of  geographic  discoveries  at  this  period 23 

Effects  of  the  growth  of  modern  languages 24 

Effects  of  deep  religious  unrest 25 

Different  character  of  Renaissance  in   Italy  and  northern 

lands 26 

Irreligious  tone  of  Italian  culture 26 

Religious  tendencies  of  Germans  and  English 28 

Reuchlin  and  "Epistles  of  Obscure  Men" 29 

Prominent  characteristics  of  Renaissance  in  16th  Century. 30 

I.  Was  at  first  a  classic  revival,  literary  in  character 31 

Violent  opposition  of  ancient  universities  and  schools. 32 

Results  of  the  struggle 33 

II.  Great  extension  of  secondary  .schools  in  England  and 

Germany 34 

Idea  of  free  tuition  for  talented  poor  youth 37 

Elementary  education  in  some  German  states 38 

III.  Education  regarded  as  a  preparation  for  life.  Why  ?. .  .39 
Ideas  expressed  by  Erasmus,  Luther  and  Rabelais, .  .40 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX 


447 


PAGE 

Why  the  ancient  languages  preponderated 41 

Expedients  to  economize  the  time  of  youth 42 

IV.  Idea  of  universal  and  compulsory  education 42 

Luther's  letter  to  Magistrates  of  Germany 43 

His  argument  for  compulsory  education 4t 

Opinion  of  Abp.  Sadolet 45 

Opinion  of  States  General  of  Orleans 46 

CHAPTER  III 

Educational  Opinions  of  the  16th  Century 49-90 

Lack  of  expression  of  ideas  of  education  for  1200  years. .  .49 
St  Jerome's  letter  to  Laeta  the  last— foot-note.  (See  p.  .220) .  49 
Principle  of    Conformity  to  Culture   and    Conformity  to" 

Nature 50 

MartinLuther,1483-1546.— His  opinion  of  existing  schools.  52 

Means  proposed  for  their  improvement 53 

(a)  Cultivation  of  ancient  languages,  history,  music,  etc. 53 
Correct  estimate  of  logic  and  rhetoric 53 

(b)  Public  libraries,  chiefly  of  history 55 

Erasmus,  1467-1536.— Sketch  of  his  career 56 

Crusade  against  scholasticism  and  pedantry 58 

Services  to  the  classical  revival  : 

1.  By  his  witty  polemic 59 

2.  By  good  editions  of  classic  authors 59 

3.  By  translations  from  Greek  to  Latin 59 

4.  By  simplitied  Grammars  and  Lexicons 59 

5.  By  collecting  and  illustrating  4200  adages 60 

6    By  reconciling  literature  with  Christianity 60 

Denounces  the  folly  of  neglecting  education 60 

His  efforts  to  improve  methods  of  instruction  : 

1.  Utilization  of  childish  activity,  akin  to  Froebel 61 

2.  Adaptation  of  youthful  efforts  to  powers 62 

3.  Avoidance  of  brutal  discipline.     (See  p.  xxiv) 63 

4.  Use  of  ohjectivi  methods  and  limitation  of  grammar.  .63 

5.  Arranges  authors  in  order  of  difticulty— foot-note 64 

ViVES,  Giovanno  Ludovico,  1492-1540 65 

His  agreement  with  Erasmus  in  many  ideas 66 

Lofty  ideal  of  the  teacher 66 


448  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Proposal  of  inductive  method  in  teaching 67 

Difference  of  logical  order  from  order  of  presentation 67 

Ramus,  Pierre,  1515-1572. — Sketch  of  his  career 68 

His  lectures  as  professor  in  College  of  France 69 

Efforts  for  the  vernacular 70 

Reform  of  Logic,  introducing  examples  and  use 70 

Efforts  to  reform  the  University  of  Paris,  showing   its 

abuses 71 

Founds  by  will  a  chair  of  Mathematics 73 

Rabelais,  Francois,  1495-1558. — Sketch  of  his  life 74 

Use  of  a,  grotesque  disguise  for  his  opinions 74 

Life  of  Gargantua  and  Heroic  Deeds  of  Pantagruel 75 

Ridicule  of  scholasticism,  its  methods  and  language 76 

Recommends    Language,    Mathematics,    Astronomy,  and 

Law 77 

Emphasizes  History,  Nature,  Fine  Arts,  and  Trades 78 

Objective  Methods  in  all  possible  cases 78 

Self -Activity,  gentle  discipline,  and  physical  culture 79 

Montaigne,  Michel  Eyquem  de,  1533-1592 80 

His  pedagogic  essays 81 

Wity  polemic  against  Pedantry  and  its  results 81 

Action  as  the  expression  of  real  knowledge 82 

Idea  of  discipline  as  "  austere  mildness" 83 

Emphasis  of  bodily  training  and  fine  manners.     (Locke, 

p.  212 84 

Latin  and  foreign  tongues  by   use  and   travel.     (Locke, 

p.  214.) 84 

History  studied  to  judge  oi  facts 84 

Benefits  of  travel.     (Compare  Milton,  p.  199.) 85 

Idea  of  Philosophy  as  chief  means  of  culture.    (Plutarch).  .86 

Recognition  of  source  of  difficulty  of  right  nurture 87 

Choice  of  tutor  and  character.     (Compare  Locke,  p.  208).  .87 

Emphasis  of  observation  and  experience  vs.  books 88 

Emphasis  of  interest.     (Compare  Herbart,  p.  371) 88 

Summary  of  educational  ideas  of  the  16th  century 89 

CHAPTER  IV 
Dlstinguished  Teachers  of  the  16th  Century 91-117 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  449 

PAGE 

Melanchthon,  Philtp,  1497-1560 — Sketch  of  his  career. .  .91 
His  success  as  professor  gives  him  title  of  Preceptor  of 

Germany 93 

His  text-books  of  Grammar,  Logic,  Rhetoric,  Ethics,  etc., 

long  used 93 

Idea  of  school  organization  in  three  grades 95 

To  be  taught  solely  Latin  with  religion  and  music 95 

Sturm,  Joh.\nn,  1507-1589.— Sketch  of  his  life 96 

His  famous  school  at  Strasburg 97 

His  aim.  piety,  learning,  and  eloquence  ;  means,  classics..  97 

His  method,  double  translation,  frequent  review 98 

Pedagogic  ideas 99 

His  remarkable  and  original  organization 100 

Trotzendorf.  Valentine,  1490-1556. — Sketch  of  his  life.  101 

His  aim  preparation  for  the  University 102 

His  interesting  scheme  for  government  by  pupils 103 

Neandeu,  Michael,  1525-1595. — Sketch  of  his  life 104 

Sharp  seiiaration  of   what  really  belongs  to  secondary 

schools,  and  results 105 

Emphasis  given  to  History  and  Sciences 105 

AscHAM.    Roger,    1516-1568. — Tutor    of    Elizabeth,    and 

author  of  "  Scholemaster" 106 

His  Latin  method  akin  to  Sturm's.     (See  p.  98) 106 

Mulcaster,  Richard,  1 530-161 1-Sketch  of  his  life 107 

Pedagogic  treatises,  "Po.sitions",  and  the  "Elementarie.".108 

Principles  for  his  selection  in  "  Positions" 108 

Special  emphasis  on  physical  education 109 

What  elementary  education  should  include 110 

Remarkable  regard  for  English  and  his  reasons Ill 

Proposal  for  a  "  Teachers'  College  " 112 

Plea  for  the  education  of  girls 112 

Jesuits  as  Schoolmasters 113 

Their  organization,  aim.  and  means  used 113 

Skilful  and  definite  methods 115 

Precious  preparado/i  o<L  {vdchevii  and  supervision  of  their 

work 115 

Use  of  emulation  as  an  incentive 115 


450  THE    HISTORY    OP     MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAOE 

Analogy  of  their  schools  to  that  of  Sturm \\<\ 

Their  undeniable  merits 117 

CHAPTER  V 

Characteristics    op    Education   in   the   17th  Cen- 
tury  118-137 

Condition  at  this  time  of  subjects  of  school  study 118 

Aim  of  education  utilitarian,  "words  and  matter"  i:i 

Latin  and  Greek 119 

Two  reasons  for  this  fact  given  by  Paulsen 120 

In  the  17th  century,  Latin  and  Greek  considered  a ^?7«c?.  121 

Enumeration  of  six  pedagogic  characteristics 122 

I.  Influence  of  ecclesiasticism  in  education.     Proofs 123 

Tendency  of  this  influence  to  hamper  education 124 

II.  Counter  action  to  this  by  influence  of  philosophers. .  .125 

Bacon,  1561-1626,  and  the  inductive  method '26 

Descartes,    1596-1650,   his  maxim  and  assertion   of 

authority  of  reason 127 

His  belief  in  native  equality  of  minds,  and  dangers 

of  Mathematics 127 

The  Abbe  Fleury,  1640-1723,  tutor  to  French  princes.  129 
His  aim  in  education  to  make  honest  and  skillful 

men 130 

III  effects  of  inattention  and  its  cause 130 

Fleury's  classification  of  studies — interesting 131 

1.  Knowledge  needful  for  all,  hygiene,  morals,  and 

logic 131 

2.  Studies  of  the  privileged  classes 132 

a.  Necessary:  Grammar,  Arithmetic,  Economy, 

Law 132 

b.  Useful :  History,  Logic,  Geometry,  Physics, 

and  Latin  as  a  medium 132 

e.  Curious :  Greek,  Modern  Languages,  ancient 
poets.  Fine  Arts,  etc.     (Compare    Herbert 

Spencer,  p.  376.) 133 

His  opinion  of  Latin  and  the  vernacular 133 

His  arrangement  of  studies 134 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  451 

PAGE 

III.  Beginning  of  the  practical  struggle  for  reform  in  sub- 
jects and  methods 134 

Its  leaders  called  Innovators  by  von  Kaunier 135 

First  suggestion  of  needed  changes  was  in  the  16th 

century 135 

von  Raumer's  list  of   18  fundamental  principles  con- 
densed to  9 136 

CHAPTER  VI 

Principles  of  Educational  Reformers 139-153 

1.  Conformity  to  nature  in  processes 140 

2.  Opposition  to  Memory  without  understanding 140 

3.  Offer  of  a  natural  method 140 

4.  Emphasis  given  to  vernacular  tongues 141 

5.  Insistence  on  Real  studies,  in  which  language  is  only 

an  instrument 143 

6.  Demand  that  the  observing  powers  be  trained   and 

used 143 

7.  Ideas  to  be  at  once  embodied  in  appropriate  langugage.  143 

8.  The  useful  magnified  in  education 144 

9.  Tendency  to  neglect  educational  use  of  Imagination.  .145 
Causes  of  the  slow  progress  of  the  proposed  reforms 146 

1.  Intellectual    conservatism    of    mankind,  teachers    in- 

cluded  146 

2.  Extreme  novelty  of  proposed  changes 147 

Their  demands  on  teachers  and  schools 148 

3.  Imperfections  of  Reformers  themselves 150 

CHAPTER  VII 

Seventeenth  Century  Reformers 154-219 

Ratich    (Rathke),    Wolfgang,    1571-1635.— Sketch    of    a 

strange  career 154 

Example  of  3d  Cause  of  slow  progress  of  reforms 157 

Chief  merit  that  he  emphasized  need  of  Art  of  Teaching. I5d 

Statement  and  criticism  of  his  13  maxims 160 

Comenius,  John  Amos,  1592-1671. — Sketch  of  his  career.  .163 
His  Sense   Realism,   its  source,  and  its    effects  on   his 
writings 165 


452  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

PAGE 

His  threefold  services  to  education 166 

1.  As  effective  originator  of  principles  and  methods 

of  Innovators 167 

Aim :  knowledge,  virtue,  piety — to  be  gained  by 

method 168 

To  teach  from  things,  and  to  use  what  is  learned.  .168 
His  Utilitarianism  and  his  strained  analogies 169 

2.  As  a  great  and  complete  systematist.     (Compare 

Sturm,  p.  100) 170 

a.  Maternal  schools  to  7th  year — precursor  of  kin- 

dergarten  171 

b.  National  schools  from  7  to  1 3,  for  all  of  both  sexes.  171 
Their  subjects,  taught  in  mother  tongue,  include 

handicrafts 173 

c.  Latin  school  from  13  to  18,  for  the  understanding 

and  judgment 173 

Six  grades,  named  from  beginning  of  chief  sub- 
jects  174 

d.  University  from  18  to  24  for  elite  youth,  idlers 

eliminated 174 

e.  Schola  Scholarum  for  research  and  advancement 

of  knowledge 175 

8.  As  author  of  famous  text-books  for  method — their 

character 175 

a.  The  Orbis  Pictus  with  4  of  its  illustrations. . .  .177 

b.  The  Vestibulum  described 180 

c.  The  Janua  Linguarum  described  with  3  illus- 

trative pages 180 

d.  The  Atrium,    and  general  character  of  these 

treatises 184 

The  Magna  Didactica  and  ideas  on  discipline 185 

The  Port  Royalists  as  Educators  with  Reformatoky 

Tendencies 186 

Their  influence  through  improved  text-booksaud  methods.  187 

Arnauld,  Lancelot,  Nicole,  and  Coustel 187 

Emphasis  of  vernacular  and  the  use  of  judgment 188 

Improvement  of  language  teaching  and  lessened  themes.  188 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  453 

PAGE 

Burnier's  epitome  of  their  pedagogy 189 

Their  kindly  yet  gloomy  discipline 189 

Milton,  John,  1608-1674.— Account  of  his  life  as  a  teacher.  191 
His  tractate  on  Education,  and  reform  ideas  of  teaching.  193 

His  definition  of  education,  a  lofty  utilitarianism 195 

His  arraignment  of  the  usual  modes  of  teaching  and  their 

effect 195 

Languages  instruments  for  useful  knowledge,  and  how  to 

be  learned 196 

What  boys  should  learn  and  how  apperceive 197 

Care  for  exercise  and  amusement,  military  practice 198 

Horseback  excursions  for  observation  of  the  fatherland.  .199 
Purpose  of  foreign  travel.     (Compare  Montaigne  p.  85).  .199 

Methods  and  high-toned  incentives 200 

Proposed  educational  establishment 201 

Locke,  John,  1632-1704.— "Thoughts  concerning  Educa- 
tion " 202 

His  relations  to  other  theorists  of  education 203 

His  preference  for  private  tutorship  criticizad 203 

Character  of  his  ideal  tutor.     (Compare  with  Montaigne 

p.   87) 208 

Care  for  health  and  diet.     (See  Mulcaster  p.  109) 209 

Order  of  educational    aims, — Virtue,   Wisdom,    Good- 
breeding,  Learning 210 

Virtue  and   Wisdom.— What  and  how   gained.     (See 

Fenelon  on  cunning,  p.  238) 210 

His  opinion  of  whipping 211 

Good-breeding  and  golden  rule  for  it 212 

Learning  last  and  lowest,  his  reasons  for  this 212 

Utilitarian  view  of  learning  and  studies 218 

How  Latin  should  be  taught.     vCompare  with  Montaigne 

P-  84) 214 

Other  studies 215 

Curious  opinion  of  Physics  as  an  impossible  science: 215 

Advocates  manual  training.     ^See  Comenius  p.  171,  Rous- 
seau p   304) 214 

His  agreement  with  the  Innovators 214 


454         THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Teaching  something  higher  than  memory  of  facts 217 

Principle  of  order  and  progression  in  instruction 217 

Need  of  mind  free  from  passion  and  fear 218 

His  aim  summed  up  by  himself 219 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Female  Education  and  Fenelon 220-241 

IV.  Character  of  female  education  during  Middle  Ages.  .220 

Its  nature  and  results  during  the  17th  Century 221 

What    Mulcaster  and   Comenius    had    proposed. 

(See  pp.  112  and  171^ 222 

Female  education  with  the  Port  Royalists 223 

Mme  de  Maintenon's  establishment  at  St.  Cyr. . .  .224 
Fenelon's  treatise  "Del'  Education  des  Filles"..226 
His  letter  containing  a  cautious  opinion  of  con- 
ventual education 226 

His  idea  of  the  special  nature  of  female  education.  227 

His  generous  scheme  of  studies  for  girls 228 

■  Mme  de  Lambert  as  an  advocate  of  female  educa- 
tion  230 

Fenelon.  Abp.  of  Cambray,  1651-1715. — Sketch  of  his 

career 231 

Appointed  tntor  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy 232 

Why  pedagogy  in  France  was  intended  for  princes 233 

Bossuet  and  his  thankless  task  with  the  Dauphin 233 

Fenelon's  service  with  the  fiery  duke  of  Burgundy 233 

Character  of  his  treatment  of  his  pupil 234 

Works  that  he  wrote  for  his  use 234 

1.  The  Fables  and  their  purpose  illustrated 234 

2.  Dialogues  of  the  Dead,  their  nature  and  purpose 235 

Hint  of  modern  historic  teaching 235 

3.  Adventures  of  Telemachus.  and  some  minor  works. 236 
His    indirect    or    suggestive    method,    illustrated    by 

Fables 232,  237 

Care  in  study  of  the  young  and  for  early  impressions. . .  .238 

Dislike  of  craftiness.     (Compare  with  Locke  p.  210^ 238 

How  moral  lessons  should  be  inculcated 239 

Summary  of  his  chief  ideas  on  intellectual  education 240 


ANATA'TiC     APPENDIX  455 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Oratory  op  Jesus,  and  Beginnings  op  American 

Education 242-256 

V.  Why  the  Oratory  should  be  made  prominent 242 

Its  silent  antagonism  with  the  Jesuits  in  principles 

and  studies 243 

Use  of  colored  mural  charts 244 

Discipline 245 

Bernard  Lamy,  his  ideas  of  education  and  studies 

(See  Locke  p.  314) 245 

Thomassin  and  his  curious  idea  of  an  original 

language 246 

Rapid  success  of  the  Oratory  in  the  control  of 

French  schools 343 

VI.  Beginnings  of  education  in  America 247 

Nature  of  provisions  for  education  in  Southern 

colonies 247 

Virginia  founds  William  and  Mary  college  in  1693.248 
Dutch  efforts  in  New  York  and  sources  of  infor- 
mation   248 

Education  in  New  York  under  English  rule 249 

Early    efforts    in    New    England — Boston    Latin 

school — Harvard 249 

Early  provision  for  universal  elementary  educa- 
tion  250 

Law  of  1647  and  how  enforced 251 

Condition  of  education  in  England  in  17thcentury.  .252 
French  efforts  to  educate  the  poor — La  Salle  and 

his  brotherhood 253 

Condition  of  education  in  Germany 254 

Dittes's  description  of  the  German  schoolmaster .  254 
Best  education  in  Scotland  and  its  results 255 

CHAPTER  X 

Characteristics  op  Education  in  18th  Century..  .257-280 

General  condition  of  education  at  this  time 257 

Political  and  social  unrest  of  the  age 258 


456         THE    HiSfORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Statement  of  eight  characteristic  phases  of  education.  .258 
I.  The   Pietistic  movement — Account  of  Fraiicke,  1663- 

1727 260 

Whence  the  name  Pietists 261-265 

Origin  and  growth  of  the  Francke  Institutions 261 

1.  Subjects  pursued  in  the  several  schools 263 

2.  Provision  for  professional  training  of  teachers.  .264 

Character  of  this  training 264 

3.  Emphasis  of  pious  exercises 265 

Importance  of  the  Pietestic  movement 266 

II.  Beginning  of  Real  School  movement 266 

Halle  with  Francke,  Thomasius,  and  Christian  Wolf, 

a  centre  of  practical  studies 268 

Semler  first  proposes  the  name  Real  School 267 

Complaints  that  studies  are  not  adapted  to  destina 

tion— SchOttgen 267 

Hecker  establishes  first  Real  School  in  Berlin,  1747.  .268 

III.  Movement  for  professional  training  of  teachers 268 

Its  great  importance  and  previous  neglect 269 

Jesuit  success,  and  failure  of  attempt  in  Gotha.     vSee 

Jesuits,  p.  115) 270 

Earliest  public  teachers'  Seminaries  and  rapid  Ger- 
man growth 270 

Their  early  character 271 

First  Normal  school,  a  model  school  in  Vienna,— pur- 

971 

pose *'i 

Gesner's  Pedagogic  Seminar  in  Gottingen  for  Second- 
ary schools 272 

Its  character  and  work,  and  its  influence 273 

IV.  Striking  change  in  spirit  of  university  work,  and  rise 

of  new  Humanism 275 

Gundling  in  Halle  strikes  the  key  note  of  university 

emancipation 276 

Christian  AVolf,  "professor  Germaniis,"  displaces 

Melanchthon's  compends 277 

Gesner  the  leader  of  the  new  Humanism  ;  its  purpose. 277 

Furthered  by  Ernesti,  Heyne,  and  F.  A   Wolf 278 

Gedike  formulates  new    reasons    for    humanistic 
study 279 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  457 

TAGE 

CHAPTER  XI 

Most  WEroirTY  Treatises  on  Education  in  18th  Cen- 
tury  281-317 

V.  Works  of  Kollin,  Ro.isseaii,  and  Kant  of  special  interest.  281 

RoLLiN,  Charles— 1G61-1 741— Sketch  of  his  career 281 

His  "  Traite  des  fitudes",  its  great  practical  value 282 

Views  on  moral  and  religious  education 283 

His  treatise  has  four  crowning  merits  : 284 

1    Emphasizes  vernacular  and  shows  "  how  to  teach 

it." 284 

Advice  for  grammar  and  literature 285 

Composilion  and  translation 285 

2.  His  suggestions  of  method  for  teaching  Latin  and 

Greek 286 

3.  Aim  in  teaching  history  and  principles  of  method. 287 
4    Emphasis  of  observation  and  suggestion  of  method .  288 

His  work  intended  to  aid  young  professors 290,  292 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  1712-1778— Sketch  of  his  career.  290 

His   "Emile",  its  brilliant  discursiveness;  difficulty  in 

treating  fairly 291 

Treated  as  to  (1)  sources  of  its  errors,  (2)  its  four-fold  ped- 
agogic value 294 

(1)  1.  Postulate  of  native  goodness  oi  man  and  perversion  by 

associates 295 

Hence  pupil  to  be  isolated  from  all  but  tutor  to  16th 

year 297 

Nature  to  be  chief  teacher,  reading  postponed  to  12th 

year 297 

2.  Erroneous  idea  of  coarse  of  human  development 298 

Controls  the  plan  of  his  work  and  its  divisions 298 

Subjects  of  the  5  Books  according  to  his  theory 298 

Critique  of  its  glaring  errors  and  their  results 300 

(2)  Its  great  four-fold  pedagogic  merit 301 

1.  His  proposal  for  st  ud y  of  chiklhood ' 301 

2.  Importance  of  training  senses  and  bodily  capabilities .  303 
Insistence  on  manual  training.     (See  pj)   172,  2l4).  .  .304 

3.  Fundamental  principles  of  instruction 304 


458  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Suggests  objective  methods  for  geography,  physics, 

etc 305 

4.  His  ideas  on  female  education  iu  Book  5 306 

Moral  and  religious  training  of  girls,  differs  from 

that  of  boys 307 

Early  religious  ideas  of  girls 308 

His  text-books,  Robinson  Crusoe  and  Telemaque. .  .308 

Kant,  Immanuel,  1724-1804 — his  uneventful  career 309 

Pedagogic  lectures  as  professor  of  philosophy 310 

Man  made  by  education,  hence  need  of  experiments 311 

Education  to  be  directed  by  ideal  of  humanity 311 

Pedagogy  needs  to  become  science  directed  by  experts. .  .311 
Education  made  up  of  discipline,  cultivation,  prudence, 

morality,  office  of  each  of  these 312 

Practical  education  means  development  of  character 313 

Relation  of  individual  freedom  to  law 314 

Will  trained  to  yield  to  natural  obstacles.     (See  Spencer, 

p.   382) 314 

Vital  traits  of  estimable  character 315 

Religion  inculcated  as  law   rooted    in    the  relations  of 

things 315 

Agrees  with  the  Innovators  in  essential  principles 316 

Suggests  theory  of  correlation  of  individual  and  race  de- 
velopment  316 

These  three  men  as  representative  types  of  their  age 317 

CHAPTER  XII 

Basedow  and  his  Philanthropinum 318-329 

VI.  Sketch  of  an  erratic  career,    marked  by  pedagogic 

instinct 319 

Pedagogic  experiments  and  proposals 319 

Wide  difference  from  Rousseau  in  vital  points 320 

Founds  the  Philanthropinum 321 

His  "Invitation",  and  its  high-wrought  claims 321 

Rapid  growth  and  decline  of  P  — Causes 322 

Character  of  the  education  that  he  would  change.  324 

Some  faults  of  his  methods 324 

Wide  influence  of  the  experiment  even  in  failure 325 


ANALYTIC" 


APPENDIX  459 


PAGE 

Faults  of  Basedow  as  causes  of  failure 326 

Importance  of  educator's  personality 327 

Review  of  his  jiedagogic  ideas 328 

Basedow-  and  the  P.  a  preparation  for  Pesta'.oz/.i 329 

CHAPTER  XIII 

Pestalozzi  and  his  Work 330-349 

VII.  Attempt  to  account  for  his  influence 330 

Sketch  of  his  career  to  1780 331 

Publication  of  Leonard  and  Gertrude,  1781 334 

His  life  and  work  till  1798 33r) 

"^     SenttoStanz,  1798,  tocare  for  orphans,  his  work  there. 335 

Permitted  to  teach  in  Burgdorf,— opposition 336 

Beginning  of  Pestalozzian  Institution,  1800 337 

Removed  1805  to  Yverdun  and  becomes  famous 337 

Discords  and  errors  and  their  cause — final  failure 338 

Examples  of  departure  from  his  principles 340 

Great  purpose  of  his  efforts,  wide-spread  education . .  340 
Hence    efforts  to  mechanize    methods.     (See  also 

p.   168) 341 

How  probably  led  into  this  fault 342 

His  favorite  idea  of  number,  form,  and  words 343 

von  Raumer's  criticism  of  this 343 

Niederer's  statement  of  essence  of  P's  method 344 

Essential  features  of  P's  educational  scheme 344 

His  ignorance  of  what  others  had  done  or  thought. .  .347 
Why  he  became  the  representative  head  of  reform.  .348 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Review  of  Education ai-  progress  in  18th  Century  .  350-364 

Pronunent  features  of  this  progress 350 

Slight  change  in  the  British  isles 351 

Condition  ot"  Education  in  France 351 

Religious  bodies  as  teachers. 352 

Duties  of  schoolmasters 353 

State  of  education  in  Austria  to  1773 353 

Efforts  of  Maria  Theresa  aided  by  Felbiger 354 

Recognition   of   Kiudcrmann,    "Creator  of   Industrial 
Schools" 354 


460  THE    HISTORY    OF     MODERN    EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Great  progress  in  German  secondary  education 355 

Character  of  the  New  Humanism.  (See  also  p.  277). .  .356 
German  becomes  the  medium  of  higher  instruction.  . .  .357 

Progress  in  elementary  edccation  slow, — hindrances 357 

Efforts  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  of  his  father .358 

Rochow,  "  Father  of  the  Prussian  Country  Schools".  .359 

Small  advance  in  America — cause,  wars 361 

Subjects  and  text-books  used  in  New  England 361 

In  New  York,  but  three  legislative  acts  for  schools. . .  .363 
Remarkable  multiplication  of  colleges,  Yale  to  Union.  .383 
University  of  the  State  of  New  York  founded  1784 364 

CHAPTER  XV 

Sketch  op  PROMmENT  Educational   Facts   in   19th 

Century 366-387 

Dit!iculty  of  judging  permanent  importance  of  educa- 
tional facts 366 

Seven  interesting  characteristics  of  the  Century 368 

(1)  Extraordinary  pedagogic  activity  and  how  shown.. 368,  370 

Literary  activity  in  various  forms 370 

Ilerhart  and  the  Ilerbartians ',^371 

English  contributions  to  pedagogy 372 

Herbert  Spencer's  "Education ",  examined 373 

(a)  Discussion  of  educational  values 374 

Criterion  of  educational  values  and  scheme  of  ac- 
tivities.  374 

Science  as  of  chief  value 376 

Two  sources  of  error  in  the  discussion 377 

(a)  Vague  and  variable  use  of  term  science 377 

(b)  Incomplete  scheme  of  activities 379 

Compayre's  proposed  interpolation  and  its  effect. 379 

(i)  Spencer  on  Iiitellcctmxl  Education 381 

(c)  Moral  Education  and  idea  of  Natural  Punishments.  .382 

(d)  Physical  Education  :  valuable  ideas 383 

American  contributions  to  pedagogic  literature — Page — 

Mann — Barnard 384 

Other  expressions  of  pedagogic  activity 386 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  461 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XVI 

(2)  Extension  of  Popular  Education 388 

Condition  at  close  of  18th  Century 388 

Extension  in  foreign  lands 389 

Conditions  in  the  United  States  in  1880  and  1890 390 

New  York  as  an  example  of  extension  and  growth.  .  .390 

Causes  of  lack  of  ethciency  of  schools 392 

Growth  of  free  and  compulsory  education 393 

CHAPTER  XVII 

(3)  FllOEBEL  AND  THE  KINDERGARTEN 396 

Great  importance  of  Froebel's ideas.  (See  also  pp.  403-5). 396 

Sketch  of  his  career  as  related  to  pedagogy 397 

Early  experiences  and  their  effects.  (See  also  p  403) .  397 

Later  experiences  and  their  results 398 

His  work  at  Keilhau 400 

Founding  of  the  Kindergarten,  1837 .401 

Prussian  oppossition  and  Froebel's  death  in  1852. .  .401 

Ideas  embodied  and  utilized  in  the  Kindergarten 401 

Instinct  of  Activity  and  Instinct  of  Sociality 402 

AYhj^iis  pedagogic  ideas  took  form  in  the  Kinder- 
garten  408 

Need  of  child  study  and  its  purpose.     (See  p   301— 

Rousseau) 403 

Early  education  as  "passive  and  following" 404 

Coincidence  of  Froebel's  purpose,  with  those  of 

Herbart 404 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

(4    Professional  Preparation  and  Supervision 406 

Review  of  earlier  mo  vem  ntsfor  professional  preparation  406 

Professional  education  of  teachers  in  Europe 406 

Ditliculties  of  this  in  America 407 

Efforts  for  temporary  and  local  supply  in  New  York .  408 
Training  classes,  theirorigin  and  present  condition  .409 

Teachers'  Institutes,  J.  S.  Denman,  1843 410 

Fomiding  of  Normal  Schools  in  ]Massachussetts 411 

Extraordinary  services  of  Horace  Mann,  their  father.  411 


462  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

PA0E8 

Establishment    of    university    professorships    of 

pedagogy 412 

Earlier  movements  for  supervision  of  schools 413 

Supervision  in  Massachussetts  and  New  York. .  .414,  415 
Great  importance  of  supervision 415 

CHAPTER  XIX 

(5)  Manual  and  Industrial  Training 417 

Difference  between  Industrial  and  Manual  Training 418 

Evolution  of  these  ideas 418 

Sir  Wm.  Petty's  proposal  in  1647 419 

Suggestion  of  Comenius 420 

Mme.  de  Maintenon  at  St.  Cyr,  Locke  and  Rousseau. 420 
Kindermann,  "  Father  of  Industrial  Education",  1771. 4'31 

Pestalozzi  in  1775  and  later 421 

Froebel's  proposal  in  1826 421 

Development  of  S15jd,  1866 422 

Cornell  University,  and  Victor  Delia  Voss,  1868 422 

Activity  of  France  in  manual  training 422 

Advantages  claimed  for  manual  training 423 

CHAPTER   XX 

(6)  Improvements  in  Methods-  of  Instruction.     (See 

Chapter  VI) 424 

Slow  progress  of  ideas  of  Educational  Reformers 424 

Causes  of  rapid  spread  of  reformatory  ideas  in  19th 

Century 425 

Ideas  that  are  now  generally  recognized 426 

Importance  of  vernacular 427 

Objective  and  laboratory  methods 428 

Methods  of  languages  :  Hamilton.     (See  pp.  180, 

etc. ,  214 428 

Jacotot  and  his  ideas  of  method 429 

"  Natural  Method  "  in  language  teaching 430 

Backwardness  of  schools  in  Moral  Education 431 

Froebel's  important  advance  in  method 433 

CHAPTER  XXI 

(7)  Discussion  of  Relative  Value  of  Studies 434 


ANALYTIC     APPENDIX  463 

PAGES 

Slight  attention  to  this  previous  to  this  Century 434 

Great  changes  in  this  respect  and  its  causes 435 

Opposing  views  in  questions  of  readjustment.     (See  p. 

16,  and  pp   146,  150 486 

Present  state  of  the  problem 437 

Great  change  in  the  point  of  view^  from  which  studies 

are  considered 438 

Sir  Wm.  Hamilton's  criticism  of  mathematics  as  ex- 
ample   , 439 

Reasons  urged  for  the  classical  languages 439 

German  struggle  of  Gymnasien  vs.  Real  Schulen 440 

Paulsen's  view  of  the  probable  future  of  studies 441 

Hasty  inference  as  to  the  author's  views  on  this 

subject.     (Note^ 442 

The  struggle  as  an  index  of  Humanitarian  ideas 442 

General  view  of  19th  Century  progress 443 


SYLLABUS  ON  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION 


Prepared  by   the  Department  of  Public  Instruction  of  the 

State  of  New  York  for  the  Traininy  Classes  of  the 

State,  with  references  to  pages  in  this  volume. 


The  following  syllabus  is  intended  to  give  the  out- 
line upon  which  the  work  in  this  subject  w^ill  be 
based  and  not  to  present  methods  of  teaching  it. 

It  is  expected,  however,  that  this  subject  will  be 
taught  in  a  manner  to  inspire  interest  therein  for 
its  own  sake,  to  arouse  a  professional  spirit,  to  bring 
the  class  into  intimate  acquaintance  and  s^anpathy 
with  the  great  educators  of  the  past,  to  secure  an 
intelligent  appreciation  of  current  pedagogical  dis- 
cussions, and  to  beget  serious  reflection  upon  the 
real  nature  of  education  and  the  true  aim  of  the- 
educator. 

To  secure  these  results,  the  class  should 

1.  Become    familiar    with    the   mistakes,    the 

struggles,  and  the  triumphs  of  the  great 
educators  of  the  past ; 

2.  Trace  the  growth  and  development  of  edu- 

cational' principles  and  systems  ; 
<465) 


466  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 

3.  Gain  a  clear  conceptiou  of  the  diverse  phases 

that  education  has  assumed  in  different 
nations  and  ages ; 

4.  Know  liow  largely  education  and  its  results 

have  depended  upon  the  conditions  of  the 
times  and  the  environments  of  the  peoj)le. 

SYLLABUS 


I.  Introductory.  A  general  view  of  education 
among  the  old  Asiatic  nations.  (Chinese, 
Hindoos,  Israelites,  Egyptians,  and  Phoe- 
nicians.) 

See  Introductory  Chapter,  and  pp.  10,  U,  12. 

II.  Education  among  the  Greeks. 

(a)  Comparison  of  Athenian  and  Spartan 

education. 
(6)  Noted   educators,    including   Socrates, 
Plato,    Aristotle,    Euclid,    Xenophon, 
Strabo,  Ptolemy  and  Pythagoras. 

See  Introductory  Chapter,  and  pp.  10,  11,  12. 

III.   Education  among  the  Romans. 

(a)  Comparison  of  Greek  and  Roman  edu- 
cation. 

(6)  Noted  educators,  including  Quintilian, 
Plutarch,  Varro,  Pliny,  Seneca,  Saint 
Jerome,  Saint  Augustine. 

(c)  Etfects  of  Christianity  on  education. 

See  Introductory  Chapter. 


SYLLABUS    ON    HISTORY    OF    EDU(.'ATION         467 

IV.  Education  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

(a)  Description  and  explanation  of  its 
general  character. 

(b)  The  Benedictines. 

(c)  Franciscan  and  Dominican  friars. 

(d)  The  Liberal  Arts. 

See  pp.  12-16. 

1.  The  Trivium. 

2.  The  Quadrivium. 

(c)    Noted    educators,    including    Charle- 
magne,    Alcuin,     Thomas     Aquinas, 
Bishop     Aid  helm,    the    '  Venerable  ' 
Bede,  Abelard. 
V.  The  period  of  the  Renaissance. 

(a)  Characteristics  and  causes  of  the  Great 
Renaissance. 

See  pp.  16-30. 

(b)  Noted  reformers  including  Erasmus 
(pp.  56-64),  Melanchthon  (pp.  91-95), 
Luther  (pp.  52-55),  Sturm  (pp.  96- 
100),  Montaigne  (pp.  80-88),  Rabelais 
(pp.  74-79),  Comenius  (pp.  163-185), 
Ascham  (p.  156),  Bacon  (p.  126). 

(c)  The  teaching  societies. 

1.  The  Jesuits  (pp.  113-117). 

2.  The    Port-Royalists  (.Tanscnists) 

(pp.  186-189). 
:3.   The  Oratorians  (pp.  242-246). 


468  THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 

VI.   Education  since  the  sixteenth  century, 
(a)  General  characteristics. 

See  pp.  118-1-^:),  2")7-259,  366-368. 

(Z>)  Special  study  of  the  following  educa- 
tors : 
Fenelon  (pp.  231-240),  Locke  (pj).  202- 
219),  Rousseau  (pp.  290-30.S),  Base- 
dow (pp.  318-329),  Pestalozzi  (pp.  330- 
348),  Froebel  (pp.  396-404),  Jacotot 
(p.  429),  Arnold,  Bain,  (p.  372),  Spen- 
cer (pp.  373-383),  Mann  (pp.  411,  384), 
Barnard  (p.  384),  Page  (p.  384). 

(c)  Leading  facts  in  the  development  of 

common  schools  in  America. 

Set-  pp.  347-251,  361-364. 

(d)  History  of  the  scliool  system   of  the 

State  of  New  York. 

See  pp.  390-392. 

1.   Lligher  education. 

See  p.  364. 

^1.   Elementary  education. 

See  Chapter  xvi. 

3.  Professional  training  of  teachers. 

See  pp.  407-112. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

abacus,  early  invention  of xvi 

activity,  instinct  of 402 

adaptation  of  studies 

x.\iv,62,  90,  148,  169 

aesthetic  education xviii,  375 

discipline  value 375 

formal  value 375 

knowledge  value 375 

material  value 375 

two  values  of  acxjuirement 375 

Agassiz 317 

agnostic  altruism 381 

Agricola,  Rudolph 29,  100 

aim  of  education xiv,  344 

of  the  teacher 217 

algebra 118 

alphabet,  phonic xv,  10 

America.  .23,  122,  247,  275,  350,  361, 

369,   384,  388,  407,  414,  426,  427 

American  normal  schools 272 

system,  beginning  of 251 

Americanization  of  education. . . 

144,  223 

of  studies 133.  441 

analytics 118 

ancestors,  worship  of xi 

ancient  languages,  education  in.   ix 

Anhall-Dcss.-iu,  Prince  of 321 

antitiuily,  lorin  vs.  spirit 59 

apperception xxiv,  187,  371 

Aquinas,  Thomas 276 

Arabia 10 

Arabic 78 

Aristotle x,  xii,  xvi, 

xix,  XX,  10,  II,  24,  32,  66,  68, 
.  ..69,  70,  81,  94,  198,  245,  276,  370 


PAGE 

Aristotle,  portrait xii 

arithmetic xv.  71, 

79,  102,  118,  132.  172,22'.),2i>0,  343 

Arnauld 187,245 

Arnold,  Thomas 235 

arrangement  of  studies 134 

art 321,375,380 

of  education 167 

of  teaching 159,  160 

articulation 285 

arts,  seven  liberal 14 

ascetic  oliservances 39 

Aschara 98,  106,  107,191 

portrait,  see  frontispiece. 

associations  of  teachers.  .386,425,427 

astronomy xv,  11,78,98,  133.215 

atheism 401 

Athenian  ideal  of  education xii 

Athens,  edui-ation  in 

xii,  XV,  xviii,  xix,  xxii,  10 

schools  of ..xvii 

Atrium  of  Comenius 176,  184 

attractive,  instruction  made 131 

Augustine 49 

Austria,  ed'n  in 259,  275,  353,  406 


IJache,  Alexander 385 

Bacon xvi,  67,  119,  122,124,125 

128,   136,  139,   165,  108,    191,  257 

portrait 126 

Bain 142,  337 

Education  as  a  Science 373 

Bardeen's  edition  of  Orbis  l'ictus.l85 

Barnard,  Henry 1.55,  370 

portrait 385 


(469) 


470 


TKE   HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


PAGE 

Barnard's    Am.    Jour,    of    Ed'n, 
quoted. .49,  100,  106,  117,  136, 

216,341,343,370    38.5,419 

Basedow 142.  1.51,  1.52, 

2.59,  309,  318,  .331,  349,  3.5.5.   424 

character  of 326 

life 318 

portrait 318 

beautiful,  thought  of 145 

Benibo,  Cardinal 20 

Benedictines 76 

Beneke 374 

Berulle,  Pierre  de 242 

Bible xi,  24, 

72,  95,  215,  229,  239,  246,  250,  361 

history 172 

study 78,  265 

translated 70,  106 

Bingham's  .\raericau  Preceptor. 361 

Young  Ladies'  Accidence. .  .362 

biography,  teaching  of xx 

Blankenburg 401 

boarding  schools 36 

Boccaccio 20 

Bodmer 332 

body,  feelings,  intelligence xx 

Bohn's  translations 214 

Bologna 14 

books 18 

he)  pf ul 348 

Borgia,  Ca?sar 27 

Bossuet 233 

Boston  Latin  school 249 

beta  ny 78 

Bowdoin  college 364 

bread  and  butter  studies 144 

breaking  the  will 314 

Brinsiey,  .John 253 

Brothers  of  the  Christian  schools 

253,  352 

Brown  university 364 

Buddaeus 273 

Buddhism xi 

Burgdorf 3.36,  337,  340,  ,341 ,  347 

Burgundy,  Duke  of 232,  233,  236 


PAGE 

Burnet,  quoted 36 

Burnier 189 

Bureau  of  Education 385 

burse  system 33 

business  forms 229 

Byzantine  learning 13 

calculus 118 

Canipe 318,  .325 

Canada 389 

candor 315 

Cape  of  Good  Hope 23 

caste  system x  i 

catechism  of  right 313 

Cato,  quoted 88 

Chaldaic 78,  197 

character 283,  346,  379,  382,  431 

developed 313 

traits  of 315 

Charlemagne 43 

charts 244 

cheerfulness 315 

child  study 238,  294,  301,  403 

China,  education  in 

xi,  xvi,  xxii,  xxiii,  10 

Christian  Brothers 2.53,  352 

Christopher  and  Alice 335.  340 

chronology 215 

Chrysoloras,  Manuel 21 

Cicero .57,  59,  81,  89,  94,  276 

philosophy  of xiii 

Ciceronea  ns .59, 82 

citizens  vs.  state x 

civics 305 

civil  education 374 

classic  authors 97,  246 

classical  literature 51,  66,  118 

studies 135,  356 

classics 44,  53,  279,  369,  436 

instruction  in , 287 

clerical  education 123 

Clinton,  Governor 363 

clothing 384 

Colet,  .lohn 28,  35,  36 

and  St.  Paul's  school 35 


INDEX 


471 


PAGE 

college,  American x vii 

Royal 73 

Columbia  university 364,  364 

Comenius 

122,  126,  138,140,  141,  142,151, 
152,  157,  158,  163,  186,  193,  198, 
203,  204,  216, 222,  231,  241,  246, 
259,  267,  289,  303,  319,  321, 324, 
334,  349,  372,  396,  420,  424,  425, 

429,   439 

portraits 138,  163 

Committee  of  Ten 427 

of  Fi  f teen 439 

Compayre,  quoted 

46,  65,  68,  70,  73,  124,  125,  131, 
188,    189,   237,    247,   253,   288, 

372,  379-381 

complete  development 403 

living 374,  378,  379,  381,  442 

composition 64,  133,  213,285 

compulsory  education,  xix,  31,  42, 

44,  45,  52,  368,  393 

Conite 316 

Condillac 309 

conflict  of  studies 438 

conformity  to  culture 50,  78 

to  nature 50,51,  140 

Connecticut 252 

connection 344 

conservatism,  intellectual 146 

conservatives 436 

Constantinople 13,  14 

contributions  to  pedagogy,  Rous- 
seau  301 

conventual  education 221,  226 

conversation 85 

cooperation  of  pupils 90 

Cornbury,  Governor 363 

Cornell  university 423 

corporal  punishment 211 

correlation  of  studies 371 

Count  Robert  of  Paris 14 

course  of  study 99 

Coustel 187 

creative  activity 403 


PAGE 

cultivation 312 

culture 379 

value  of  studies 369,  370,  438 

curiosity 240 

curriculum 53,  134,  148 

cycle  of  educational  niov(Mii(Mits.381 

Daboll's  arithmetic 361 

Dante 20 

Dartmouth  college 364 

Darwin,  Charles 302 

decimal  notation 10 

deductive  method 73 

DeGuiraps,  Roger 344 

Delia  Voss,  V'Ictor 422 

Denman,  J.  S 410 

Denmark 389,  394,  423 

Descartes 118,  122.  124, 

125.  126,  136,  139, 230, 245,  257,  435 

max  i m  of 127 

designing 133 

development,  order  of .\x 

Deventer,  brethren  of 100 

dialectics 54,  94,  97.   102.  174 

Dialogues  of  tlie  Dead 235 

Diderot 309 

Dilworth's  speller .^61 

discipline xxiv,  55,  63, 

83,  103,  161,  163,  189,211.312,432 

by  love 328,  346 

Spencer's  view 383 

disciplinary  studies 

...121,  133,  141,  144,  196,216.219 

value  of  studies 434 

disinterested  studies 440 

disputation 15,  32 

Dittes.  quoted 38.  155, 

159,  254,  255,  271,  273,  295.  30l>, 

.  .321.  330,  331,  353,  358,  370,  425 

divinity 250 

Dootrinule 42 

doing,  education  from 399 

Dominicans 32 

Downing.  A.  S 409 

dramas 121 


472 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


PAGE 

drawing 110,  145,  172,  305,  343 

Duns  Scotus 276 

Dutch  scliools  in  Xew  York 365 

ciirly  discipline 312 

education xxi,  61,  204 

- —  impressions xxi 

East  Indies 23 

Eastern  empire ,  19 

ecclesiasticiil  education 122 

economics 132 

Education.  Spencer 373 

des  Filles  Fenelon 226 

by  tlie  state xix 

defined,  Loctce 210 

l)y  Milton 195 

early,  ancient  ideas  of xxi 

elements  of 312 

from  doing 399 

great  problem  of 313 

higheramong  the  ancients. xxiii 

ideal  of 311 

overestimates  of 

168,  204,  322,  327 

popular 357,  388 

power  of 310 

systematized 166 

educational  ideals x 

periodicals 427 

Egypt,  ed'n  in.  xi,  xvi,  xxii,  xxiii,  10 

Egyptian   ideal xx 

methods xvi 

Eleinentarie,  Mulcaster 11) 

Elementary  Book.  Basedow 320 

elementary  education 38,  350 

dependent  on  higher xxiii 

schools xviii 

vs.  scientific  cd'n 105 

Elizabeth,  Queen 107,  108 

Emile 332.     (See  Rousseau.) 

defects  of 295 

merits  of 294,  301 

emulation .115,  189 

England. .34,  38,  111,  252,  351,  393,  414 
English  secondary  ed'n 34,  351 


PAGE 

English  universities 407 

Epistles  of  Obscure  Men 29,32 

Erasmus 28,  29,  30,  31,  35,  40, 

42,  45,  51,  65,  76,  82,  90,  111,  135 

doctrines 56 

portrait 56 

Ernesti 277   278,  356 

ethics 174,  250,  436,  442 

Eton 34 

Euclid 11,  119,215 

Eudemon • 40 

examinations 1 15 

exercise 384 

experience 88 

utilized 143 

exponents 118 

external  nature 140.  169 

Fables  of  Fenelon 234 

feelings  educated 328 

Felbiger 354,  355 

female    education,    see    ivoinen, 
ed'n  of. 

fencing 78 

Fenelon   122,  131, 

220,  226,  231.  283,  306,  327 

doctrines 231 

Fables 234 

portrait 231 

Feugere 61 ,  64 

Fichte 316,  348,  401,  425 

portrait 349 

fine  arts 78,  133 

Finland  422 

Fitch,  Sir  John  G 372 

Fleury 122,  124,  129,  142,  144,245 

flogging xxiv,  161,  211 

Florence 21 ,  22.  27 

France 36,  38,  71,  242,  252,  257, 

320, 351 ,  389,  393,  406,  414, 422, 427 

and  manual  training 422 

Francke 

...258,  259,  355,  358,  367,  413,  424 

doctrines 260 

portrait 260 


INDEX 


473 


PAGE 

Frcilorick-  the  Great 270,  359 

frccoducation 31,  391,  393 

scliolar.sliiijs,  German 37 

Flench  ed'n 253,  320,  321,  351 

educational  writers 372 

nobility 46,  47 

Froebel 

171,  309, 334,  338, 368, 396,  421 ,  433 

life  of 396 

portrait 397 

Education  of  Man 421,  370 

fruit 210 

Oarsa  ntua 40,  75 

Gaul 13 

Gedikc,  Friedrioh 279 

frentienien,  education  of 203,  215 

geojiraphy xv,  11,  64,  172, 

215,  244,  287,  295,  305,  345,   362 

descriptive 23 

tjeonietry..  XV,  11,71,79,  118,   119, 

...' 215,250,243,245 

in  Rome xiii 

Gi>or^(!  Rliofs  Romola 22 

G(^rman 95,  98,  123,  156,  320,  321 

pedagogic  thought 372 

reformers 142 

secondary  schools 

37,  235,254,277,356 

universities 

14,  33,  37,  175,  254,  272,  275 

Germany 

xviii.  36,  38,  44,  71,  94,  170, 
252,  254,  257, 259, 264, 268, 275, 
350,  355,  388,  389,  393,  406,  414, 

426,  427,440 

G<'sner,  .1.  M 259,  272,  273,  277, 

278,279,  356,  357 

and  the  new  humanism 277 

peda^;o<iic  seminar 272 

Gilibiin,  (1  noted 21 

dill 372 

Glasizdw  nnrmal  seminary 407 

God,  idea  .if 308,315,320 

Goethe,  portrait 326 


PAGE 

good  breeding 212 

Gotha,  Duke  of 270 

Gottingen 259,  272,  278 

and  the  new  humansism. ... 

273,  275,277 

grammar 

XV,  11,  15,  55,  64,  67,  71,  95, 
102,  106,  115,118,132,134,161, 
164,  174,  213,  214,  228, 244, 285, 

324,362,  427,  430 

schools,  England 30,34 

Great  Britain 372.389,  407,  414 

Greece xvii,  xxii,  11,  45 

Greek 

20,  24,  28,  30,  34,  37,  38,  53, 
56,  64,  77,  82,  95,  98,  102,  120, 
121,  132,  148,156,173,188,196, 
244,  247,  250,  267, 274, 276,  284, 

286,  363,  434,  441,  442 

authors 19,  434 

classics 17,  21,  31,  32,  265 

culture 12 

— — emigrants 21 

learning 9 

literature 11.  20,  21,  59 

manuscripts ._.  ..21 

Greeks 99,120,121 

Green's  Short  History,  quoted. .19, 34 

Groceyne 21 

Gruner 398 

Guizot 16,  19,406 

Gundling  and  the  new  university 

spirit 276 

gymnasien  and  Real-Schulen  —  441 
gymnasium 173 

habits,  formation  of 316 

TIallam,  quoted 18 

Halle 259,  275.  278 

rise  and  early  inn'ienee.261,  275 

university  of 263 

Hamilton,  .Tames 161,  214,  428 

SirWilliam 128,439 

portrait 438 

Ilamiltonian  svstem 214 


474 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION 


PAGE 

handicrafts 172 

hardening  process 384 

Harrison,  quoted 34 

Hartlib,  Samuel 193,  419 

Harvard  university 165,  250 

Hebrew xxii,  30.  31,  53,  78,  95, 

173,  197,  247,  250,  266,  434 

education xiv 

scriptures 29 

system x 

theocratic  ideal xiv 

Hecker,  J.  J 268,  270,  354,  359 

Hegius,  Alexander 29,  56 

Heidelberg,  university  of 32 

Helvetius 309 

Hel  vicus 162 

Henry  VIII 34 

Herbart 86,  319,  370,  404 

portrait 371 

club 371 

Herder 323 

Heyne  in  GOttingen 279,  356,  357 

high  schools 30 

higher  education  xxiii,  363 

Hindoo  education xv,  xxii,  10 

history 

51,53,64,84,89,  105,  119,135, 
145,  172,  173,215,218,229,235, 
250,  284,  287,  305,  376,  377,  378, 

380,381,431,436 

Hodder's  arithmetic 362 

Holland 389 

home  education 306 

training 341,  347 

Homer 20 

poems  of xxi 

Hoole,  Charles 177 

Hosmer 384 

How    Gertrude     Teaches     her 

Children 341 

Hughes,  Thomas,  quoted 117 

humanism,  the  new 280,287,356 

humanistic  i  nstruction 

20,  31,98,279 

learning 34,  89 

revolution 38,  125 


PAGE 

humanistic  studies 32,  356 

humanist 32,  58 

humanitarian  idea 442 

ideal 26,  370,  439,  442 

revolution 48 

■ — -spirit 60,  122 

humanities 437 

hygiene 114,131,  149 

ideal  of  the  teacher 208 

teacher 66 

ideas  before  words 143 

illiteracy 389 

India 388 

education  in xi 

individual  freedom 313 

ideal xiv 

individuality 304.399 

indirect  instruction 233,  230 

inductive  method xvi,  67,  97 

industrial  education xi.  417 

schools 355.  418 

infant  schools 171 

innovators 135, 136, 

157,    162,   166,  258,  369.  381,435 

doctrines  of 328 

instincts  of  children 240 

instruction  mechanized 152 

intellectual  activity 42(5 

awakening 39 

interlinear  translations 214.  24() 

intuition 344 

isolation  of  children 297.  320 

Italian 197,229 

Italy 13,  17,  21,  2fi,  30 

Jacotot Ifil.  428 

methods 429-430 

portrait 429 

Janua  Linguarum...l5I,  175,  180.  194 

Japan 388 

.Jerome,  St 49 

quoted 220,  227 

Jesuits 134.  186 

188,   \90,  242,   246,  245,  2.">3,   413 


INDEX 


475 


PAGE 

Jesuit  schools .' 30,  3ti, 

37,  38,  70,  1KM17,  S.VJ,  2t)4,  3.V^ 

Josus 10,  '^6 

tt^■ll•.llil^^■s  1)1' xvi,  28 

OlMldl-V  n( 242 


.li-\v> 


42 


.Tolmsoii,  1)1- 191,  1!)2,  193 

jiult,Miii'nt 376 

jiirispriulence xv,  14,  120,  198 

Kant 259,274,281, 

309,  322,  324,  325,   382,  399,  433 
doctrines 310 

-  life 309 

portrait 310 

kin(]er','iirten.l71, 334, 368, 396, 421 ,  433 

first  idea 401 

Kindermnnn,  Ferdinand 354,  420 

father  of  industrial  ed'n 421 

Kin<<s  colleKO 363,  364 

Kloster  schools 36 

knowledge  of  most  worth. . .  .378,  442 

known  to  nnknown 64,  140,345 

Kriisi  aids   Pestalozzi 337 


.343,  376, 


laboratory  inethoc 
Lambert,  Mnie.  de 
Laniy,  IJernard,. . 

Lancelot 

Lange 

Lanfjethal 

lantiuaj^c 

an  ill  si  runic  nt 

study 

lan':!:naKes 119,  196, 

in  six  months 

La  Salli' 257,  2.'S9, 

portriilt 

Latin 

24,  25,  :!(!,  34,  37,  38,  40,  41,. 53 
56,  64,  67,  70,  77,  82,  84,  95,  98, 
100,  102,  103,  106,  116,  119,  120 
121,  132,133,148,  156,  170,  173, 
176,  180,  188,  193, 196,  208,  214 
216,  229,  244, 246,  247, 250,  257 
267,  274,  276,  278,  284, 286, 287 
319, 320,  325,  350,  363, 434, 439, 


428 
230 
245 
187 
371 
400 
381 
142 
188 
441 
322 
3.52 
253 


PAGE 

Latin  authors 19 

— —  books  in 12 

classics 31,  32 

composition 133 

leariiiiii; 21 

literature ...  59 

pli  rases 246 

school 173 

verses 133 

Laurie,  S.  S 163,  169,  185,  372 

law xvii,  15,  132,215,229 

learning  by  rote 161 

last 212 

Leibnitz 118 

Leo  X,  his  character 26 

Leonard  and  Gertrude.. .334,  340,  341 

libraries 53 

and  Luther 55 

Lily 36 

Linacer 21 

literature 

. .  .XV,  145,  285,  334,  380,  427,  441 

in  ancient  schools xx 

little  schools 186 

Locke 

80,84,  86,  122,   142,  191,  240, 
245,  283,  289,  300,  303,  304,  321, 

323,  420,  429,  439 

^—  doctrines 202-219 

portrait 202 

Log  college 364 

lojjic 

XV,  II,  15,  69,  70,73,  93,  118, 
...131,  134,  162,  174,214,250,  442 

logicians 88 

Louis  X 1  \' 224 ,  2.32,  233,  236 

Ludwig  of  Anli.-ill    Kotlieii 1.56 

Luther 

24,  26,  30,  37,  40,  43,  46,  48,  51, 
57,  89,  90,91,  162 

doctrines ,52.55 

portrait 52 

Lyte,  ciuoted 21 

Ma.gna    Didactica,   Conienius. . . . 

174,  185,  194 

Mainteiion,  Mme.  de. . ..  122,  224,  420 


470 


THE    HISTOIIY    OF    MODERN     EDUCATION' 


PAGE 

Maim,  Iloracp 382,  384,  395 

father  of  normal  schools 412 

portrait 411 

Mansfield 384 

manual  training 172,  214, 

216, 230,  304,  328, 346, 369,  417, 422 

Maria  Theresa 353,  354 

Massachussetts.250,  361,  390,  411,  415 

materialistic  education xiii 

maternal  schools 170 

mathematica 161 

mathematics 

11,  51,  53,  69,  73,  89,  98,  118, 
133,  135,  174,257,321,362,370, 

376,  381,436,438,441 

matter  before  words 161 

Maurus,  Rabanus 93 

mechanism  of  method 342 

mediiBval  universities 14 

Medici 21 

medicine xv,  xvii,  14,  15,  120,210 

Melanchthon 42,  276 

doctrines 91-96 

portrait 91 

memory 140,  148,  324,  376,  426 

mental  activity 383 

discipline 79 

power 304 

metaphysics 67 

Method  Book,  Basedow 320 

of  Vives 67 

methods 31,61,  305,369,  424 

ancient xvi 

of  the  Jesuits 115 

Middendorff 400 

middle  an(!S 437 

class  education 30,  34 

Milton xii,  71,  122,  142, 

203,214,215,419,  439 

doctrines 191 

portrait 191 

model  school 271 

modern  languages. 24, 25,  132,  427,  436 

Mohammed 13 

M  o  1  i  c  re :i5 1 

monastic  education xi 

money,  relative  value  of 107 


PAGi! 

Montaigne 24,  51,  90,  135,  144, 

194.  199,  203,  214,  404,  439 

doctrines 80 

-portrait 80 

Moorish  schools 15 

moral  education 211,  238,  299, 

307,  338,  373,  382,  432 

sentiments 379 

morality 312 

applied 315 

sanction  of 381 

morals 131,  172 

positive  training   in 380 

More,  Sir  Thomas 24,  65 

Morley,  Prof.,  quoted 74 

Morse's  geograijhy 362 

Moslem  learning 12 

mother  ideas 345 

mothers,  education  by 341,  402 

instruction  of 342 

motives  for  study 201 

Mulcaster 107-11.3,  191,222,  2.53 

music XV,  53,  78,  95,  102, 

110,  145,  172,  198,229 

Napoleon 348 

national  oducation 3.50 

lAluational  Association 389 

ideal  of  education x 

schools 172 

native  tendencies 205 

natural  history....  11,  64,  89,  10.5,  288 

method  in  languages 430 

punishments 383 

religion 324 

sciences 

11,  67,  84,  119,  1.35,  161,  162, 
288,  321,  322,  376, 378, 428,  436, 

439,  441 

nature,  conformity  to 435 

followed 161,  328 

Neander 36,93,  102,  104-106 

Netherlands,  schools  of 364 

Neuendorff 323 

Neuhof 333,  334,  33.5,  3:J9,  340 

New  Knglaud 257,  361,  388 

primer 316 


INDEX 


477 


PAGE 

New  Enfrlaiifl  schools 362 

New  Jersey 363 

New  York 2AS,  361,  363,  388, 

390-393,  408,  -415 

e(liie;itioii  ill 248 

iiorinal  schools 411 

schools 363 

new  h  11  111  a  II  ism 277 

le,-irniii;T 16.  34, 61 

Testament 57 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac 118,  126,  257 

Nicole  at  Port  Royal 187,  189 

Niederor 344 

Nohl 370 

normal  education 368 

schools 

147,  253,  266,  268-275,  354, 358, 

368,406,  411,425 

system  of  discipline 383 

teachi  n  <j 264 

Northend,  Charles 384 

Northern  Africa 12 

obedience 212,  315 

object  lessons 78,  289 

proposed  by  Rollin 288 

teaching,'. . .  .131, 284,  344,  345,  426 

objective  method xvi,  63,  90,  428 

observation 

..142,  149,  171,  240,  284,  304,  344 

trai  lied 142,  177,  303,  328,  345 

observational  teaching 266 

obstacles  to  ed'l  reform 146 

one  thins  at  a  time 161 

oral  teaching 15,  18.  115 

Oratorians 123,  244,  254,  3.52 

Oratory  of  Jesus 122,  242 

Orbis  Pictus,  Comenius 

176,  177-180,  185,  267,  319 

order  of  development xix 

original  themes 188 

orphan  house 262 

over  crowding 304 

Oxenstiern 157,  1.58 

Oxford  university. ...  14,  21,  28,  33,  65 

Page,  David  P 384 


PAGE 

Page,  David  P.,  portrait 38 

painting 78,229 

Palace  of  .Viithors,  Comenius 181 

Pansopliia,  Comenius 166 

Pantagnu'l 75 

Paohi,  Fra 27 

paper 18 

Paris 14 

Paris,  university  of 65,  69 

Pascal 190 

passive  education 404 

national  type x 

Paulsen 

33,  37,  98,  120,  254,  266,  272, 

276,278,441,  442 

Pavia 21 

Payne,  Joseph ,373,  382,  429 

pedagogic  activity 368,  425 

apostle  of  freedom 405 

helpfulness 290 

seminar,  Gesner 272,  3.56 

pedagogy  a  study 311 

•  professors  of 413 

pedants 81 

penmanship 343,  362 

Pennsylvania 414 

university  of 364 

Perez 302 

periods  of  study 170 

Persian  ideal x  i  i 

personality  of  the  teacher 327 

perspective  in  teaching 105 

l^stalozzi 

142,  151,  152,  171,  259,  304,  309, 
. .  .325,  329,  369,  370,  390,  399,  425 

doctrines  

330-349,  369,  381,  396,  421 

personality  of 328 

Pestalozzi,  portrait, 330 

Pestalozziaiiism 169,  425 

Peter  the  Lombard 276 

Petrarch 20 

Petty,  Sir  Willi.-un.  .214,  216,  418,  419 

PfelTerUorii 29 

Philanlln-Diiiiiiii 2.59,  321,  355 

Philistines 280 

philological  methods 356 


478 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


PAGE 

philologists 140 

philosophers,  influence  in  ecl"n..l25 
philosophy 

.XV,  xvii,  II,  72,  85,  230,  288,  442 

Phoenicia 10 

Phoenican  education xi 

phonetic  alphabet xv,  10 

physical  culture xviii 

education 

53,  90,  no,  198,  209,  303,  328,  383 

physics 174,  215,  288,  295,  305 

pietism 261 

pietistic  movement 258,  259,  354 

pietists 259,  265 

Pilve's  arithmetic 361 

Pilatus,  Leo 20 

Pliny 11,  24,63 

Plato,  portrait xix 

quoted 

xvi,  xxi.  xxii,  10,  42, 198,  245, 370 

play  for  learning 316 

instruction  by 218,  433 

utilization  of 401 

vs.  gymnastics 384 

pleasant,  learning  made 240 

Plutarch.,  .xxii,  xxiv,  xxv,  11,  49,  90 

poetry 133,145 

politics 250,442 

Port  Royal.. 122,  123,  186,  223,  224,  245 

Positions,  Mulcaster 108 

practical  education 30,  40,  313 

teaching 328 

Pratt,  Daniel  J 249 

precocity 304 

preparation  for  teaching 115 

Preyer 302,  370 

princely  education  in  Franco — 233 

princes'  schools 34 

Princeton  university 366 

printing,  effects  on  ed"n 15,  17,  18 

Prisciau 42 

private  education  204,  390 

productive  activity ..403 

processes  in  teaching 152 

profession  of  teaching 264 

professional  training 

112,  264,  268,  368,  406 


PAGE 

professors 71 

programmes  of  study 436 

pronunciation 285 

prudence 312 

Prussia 268,  388,  389,  392,  401,  441 

psychology 376,  436 

Ptolemy 1 1,  24 

public  education 388 

■  schools 358,  368 

schools  of  England 351 

punishments 240 

natural,  Spencer 383 

Quick,  Richard  Hebert 107,  117 

Educational  Reformers 272 

portrait 372 

Quincy,  Josiah 412 

Quintilian 

xvi,  xxi,  xxii,  xxv,  10,  II,  40, 
49,  61,  63,  94,  214,  284,  390 

Rabelais 

24,  40,  50,  51,  74,  84,  89,  90, 

126,  ia5,  203 

doctrines 74-80 

portrait 74 

radicals 436 

Ramsauer 337 

Ramus,  Pierre 

32,  51 ,  66,  68-74.  89,  94,  246 

chair  of 73 

Ratich 

122,  150, 152, 154,  165, 1(57,  270, 

322,  327,  349,  413 

maxims  of 160 

rate  bills 391 

reading 63,  110,  172,  229.  297,  427 

real  schools 258,  263,  268 

rise  of 142,266 

real  studies.   ..  .142,  162,  263,  260,  367 

realistic  ideas 3.54 

tendencies 3.55 

reason 239 

with  children 300 

reasoning 376 

recreations 198,213 

Reformation 29,  30,  57,  123 


INDEX 


479 


PAGE 

reformers 136.  1-Jl,  150 

|)i'iiiciples  of 139,  426 

Kc. n 's  (;ul lines  of  l'edagot;ics..  .371 

ril.ii  iw  \  :ilu('  of  studies 369 

rL'liLzioii 

r,i,  '.T,  102,  1-45,  172,  210,  268,  381 

pusilive  triiining  in 380 

proii^Iytisni 114 

religious  education 

269,  233,  299,  307,  315,  320,  338, 

376,  380,  432 

siMitiinents 379 

Ren.iis  MiiLM- 

...0.11,  13,  19,21,22,  50,93,437 

dilfercnces  in  spirit 26 

i t s  precursors 16,  23 

repetition 115,  161 

report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten.. 427 
- —  of  the  Committe  of  Fifteen.. 439 

restleesnes:;  of  young  life 402 

Reuclilin,  .Johaun. .  ..29,  31,  42,  91,  92 

reward  i 239 

rhetoric 

xiii,  xv,  xvi,  xvii,  15,  94,  97, 

102,  118,  162,  174,  213 

Luther's  opinion  of 54 

Robinson  Crusoe 308 

Rocliow,  F.  E.  von 413 

and  rural  schools 359 

Roelcn  ;t n  n ,  Adam 249 

Rollin . .  1 19,  190,  259,  304,  317,  351,  380 

doctrines . . .281-290 

portrait 281 

Roman  church 47 

classics 20 

organization xvii 

utilitarianism xiii 

writers 434 

Romans 99 

Rome.. xiii,  xvii,  xxii,  10,  11, 15,21, 133 

Rosenlirantz x,  370 

Rosniini 372 

Rousseau 

80.  84.  87.  142,  151,  203,  206, 
210,  216,  246,  259,  281 ,  290,  317, 
320,  321 ,  323, 324, 331 ,  382,  349, 
402,  403,404,  420 


PAGE 

Rousseau,  confessions  of 293 

•  Kraile 290-306 

errors  of 295 

life  of 292-294 

portrait 290 

Runkle,  John 422 

Rutgers  college 364 

Sadolet,  A.  15.  V 43,48 

and  compulsory  education..  45 

Salzmann 318,  323 

Savonarola 27 

Saxony 36,  38,  94,  389 

Schmidt,  K.  A.,  quoted 

33,  65,  160,359 

Schmidt,  K.,  quoted 124 

Schnepfenthal 323 

schola  soholarum,  Comenius 175 

scholastic  education 75 

methods 257 

•  philosophy 14,  15 

scholasticism 50,  58,  69,  437 

Scholemaster,  Ascham 106 

school  books.42,57,71,93,  105,  187,361 

commissioners 415 

—  organization.. 94,  99, 172,  386,  390 

republic 103 

schoolmaster,  functions  of 352 

- — -  of  the  17th  century 255 

Schoolmen 15 

SchOttgen 267 

Schrader 370 

Schulthess,  Anna 333 

science,  Spencer's  view  of 377 

sciences 173,  250,  370,  381 

Scott,  Sir  Walter 14 

Scotland 255-257,  275,  351,  388 

Scottish  universities 407 

scul  pture 78 

secondary  education. 37,  242,  351,  357 

schools 257,  272 

growth  of 47 

self-activity. 89,  145,  304,  344,  399,  426 

confidence 315 

direction 313 

preservation 374 

Semler,  Christopher 267 


480 


THE    HISTORY    OF    MODERN    EDUCATION 


PAGE 

Seneca xiii,  xxii,  xxiv,  10,  90 

portrait xiii 

sense-realism 165,  168 

senses,  memory,  tongue,  hand . . .  172 

trained 168,288,  294,  303 

sensibilities 134 

sensual  indulgences 316 

Sevigne,  Mme.  de 225 

Silva  of  Pansophy,  Comenius 166 

Skinner,  Charles  R 409 

slojd 422 

socialism  401 

sociality 315 

instinct  of 402 

Socrates xxii,  10.  69 

his  method xvi 

portrait xvi 

Solon's  laws 418 

songs,  heroic xx 

Spain 12,  71 

Spanish 229 

Sparta 42,  45 

Spartan  education xix 

system x 

special  teachers 161 

speech  of  children 302 

Spencer 132,  142,  314,  316,  373,  438 

portrait 373 

Education 373 

Spener,  Philip  J 260,  261 

Spiess,  Dr 235 

St.  Cyr 224,  420 

Paul's  school 36 

Stanz,  Pcstalozzi  at 3^5,  340 

stages  of  development 298 

starting  point 344 

State  education,  Aristotle x,  xii 

States  general  on  compulsory  ed'n 

.] 46 

Stow,  David 407 

Strabo,  Walafried 24,  99 

Strasburg 32,  36,  96 

studies,  relative  value  of 369,  434 

their  readjustment 437 

study,  idea  of 314 

stupor  pedagogicus 277 


PAGE 

Sturm 

36,  106,  113,  116,  134,  170,252,257 

doctrines 96-101 

portrait 90 

success  of  Pestalozzi 330 

successive  development 399 

supervision 115,  117,369,  413,  425 

Sweden 422 

Swiss  Family  Robinson 325 

Switzerland 389,  394 

Syrian 197 

tact 209 

Taine 302 

Taylor,  Jeremy 126 

teacher,  idea  of 342 

Locke's  ideal 205 

qualifications  of 207 

teacher's  dignity xxi 

teachers,  ancient  opinions  of... xxii 

training  of 

1 12,  1 15,  253,  264,  269,  368,  406 

teachers'  institutes 410 

seminaries 264,  269,  406 

teaching  an  art,  Ratich 159 

technical  training 369,417 

Telemaque,  Feuelon 236,  308 

Tennent,  William 364 

text-books 42,  175,  186 

American 361,  385 

themes 287 

theocratic  education xiv 

Theodulf 43 

theology 14,  15,  120 

theories  of  education 31 

ancient x 

theory  and  practice  of  education.  382 

things 176 

before  words 88,  189,217 

Thomas  Schule,  Leipsic 278 

Thomasius 266,  357 

Thoraassin,  Oratorians 245,  246 

Thoughts  on  Education,  Locki'..202 

trade  schools 417 

training  classes  in  New  York. . .  409 
in  universities 407 


INDEX 


481 


PAGE 

tr.aininft  of  teachers 117,  353,  426 

Traile  des  Eludes,  Rolliu 282 

translsitiou 285 

travel 85,  199 

treatise  on  studies 282 

three  r's  361 

triviiiin 15 

TiMl/.cnddrr 36,  93,  101-104,  323 

Turks 23 

tutors 85,  351 

uuderslMudint,'  b(^fore  memory... 

140,  148 

uuifcirniily  in  teaching 161 

Union  college 364 

United  States.. 389.    See  America 

- —  deposit  fund 391 

unity,  idea  of 404 

of  ;ill  things 398 

universiil  education 47,  141,  160 

universities 174,  2.57 

and  schools . . xviii 

mediaeval   14 

— —  sludies  of 14 

university  degrees 33 

idea 10 

of  Paris 14,  89 

of  Pennsylvania 364 

of  llie  Stateof  N.  Y..349,269,  364 

— — refcirni,   Ramus 71 

si)irit,  rise  of  modern 375 

unknown  by  the  unintelligilile. .  188 

useful  knowledge 434 

use  of  words 385 

utilitarian  aim 119 

education 144,   169 

views 316 

utilitarianism  in  ed'n 119,  314 

variahli'  iiii<l(llc  term 378 

Venice 31 

Verlet,  l)r 335 

vernacular  instruction 

24,  41,  54,  75,  110,  133,  141, 
160,170  171,180,313,357,284, 
286,  357,  367,  437,  441 


l'A(iE 

Vestibulum,  Comenius        ...176,  180 

Vieta 118 

Villemain,  ij noted 383 

Virginia 318 

virtui^ 310 

Vi  ves 76,  90,  136,  1 :{.'.,  168 

■  doctri  nes ('.5-68 

portrait 65 

vocabularies 164 

Voltaire 383 

von  Raumer 

37,  37,  93,  100,  106,  117,  1.35, 
136,  143,  145,  151,1.55,160,354, 
293,  325,  337, 340, 341,  343,  3.56, 370 

his  18  propositions 139 

von  Rochow 259,  388,  413,  424 

Voss,  Victor  Delia 422 

Waddington,  quoted 73 

Waitz 370 

Warham,  Archbishop 38,  39 

Webster's  speller 361 

Weinmar,  Duke  of 1.56 

Westminster  college 34 

will  cultivated 134 

trained 314,  432 

William  and  Mary  coliege 348 

Williams  college 364 

Winchester  college 34 

Windsor  college 34 

wisdom  defined 310 

Wolfe,  Christian 366,  377 

F.  A 379,  3.56,  357 

Wolf,  Heironymus 36 

Wolke 330 

Wolsey,  Cardinal 34 

women,  education  of 

...  .90,  113,  171,  220,  295,  299,  306 

—  teachers 163 

word-splitting 88 

writing 110.  173 

Wiirtemberg 36,  38,  389 

Y;ilr  university 363 

Vverduii 

337,  340,  341,  347.  348,  398.  ;!'.tH,  KX) 


THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN  PUBLICATIONS 

Williams's  History  of  Education 

Vol.     I.  History  of  Ancient  Education $1.12,  net 

Vol.    II.  Histouy  of  Medieval  Education 1.12,  net 

Vol.  III.  History  op  Modern  Education 1.50,  net 

Each  volume  sold  separately 

This  series  is  the  only  complete  history  of  education  in  Eng- 
lish. No  special  history  of  ancient  or  of  mediaeval  education 
has  hitherto  appeared  in  English,  and  the  history  of  modern 
education  is  fuller  than  can  be  found  elsewhere.  Prof.  Williams 
made  this  work  the  effort  of  a  life-time,  and  the  manuscript  was 
repeatedly  revised  as  its  use  for  lectures  before  the  pedagogical 
classes  of  Cornell  university  made  desirable.  It  is  used  in  the 
leading  normal  schools  and  colleges  not  only  in  this  country  but 
in  Canada  and  England. 

Prof.  Nicholas  ]\Iurray  Butler  says  in  the  Educational  Review: 
"  Prof.  Williams's  book  is  the  latest,  and  for  tlie  American  reader, 
tlie  best.     *    *    * 

"One  is  struck  with  the  excellent  sense  of  proportion  that 
pervades  the  work,  as  well  as  with  the  soundness  of  the  author's 
judgments  and  his  breadth  of  view.  He  is  neither  a  partisan  nor 
a  sentimentalist.  The  capital  sketch  of  Comenius — one  of  the 
best  things  in  the  book — and  the  very  discriminating  and  philoso- 
phical analysis  of  Rousseau's  Emile  may  be  cited  as  evidence  of 
this.  The  young  student  will  also  derive  no  little  help  from 
Professor  Williams's  comments  on  the  strength  and  the  weak- 
ness of  Herbert  Spencer's  essay  on  Education.  In  fact,  the  au- 
thor's long  teaching  experience  has  stood  him  in  good  stead,  and 
he  has  made  a  teacher's  book. 

"There  is  no  question  that  this  effort  of  Professor  Williams 
'  to  construct  a  narrative  which  should  be  truthful  and  perspicu- 
ous without  being  unduly  bulk)'' has  been  successful.  He  has 
amply  sustained  his  own  reputation,  and  done  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation a  substantial  service." 

Prof  Hugh  O.  Bird  of  the  College  of  William  and  I\Iary 
writes,  "I  immediately  adopted  it  as  a  te.xt-book  in  my  interme- 
diate class,  and  prescribed  it  for  parallel  reading  in  my  senior 
class.     I  have  a  class  of  twenty-two  studying  it." 


OPINIONS    OF    WILLIAMS  S    HISTORY 

It  is  the  fullest,  most  complete,  an<imost  satisfactory  work  we  have  on  the 
axihiect.—Educa/ional  Courant,  Sept.,  1892. 

It  presents  the  salient  features,  is  interesting  and  valuable. —.S'«?;</(Zi, 
School  Journal,  March,  1893. 

Believing  it  to  be  the  best  book  of  its  kind,  I  shall  use  it  in  my  classes.— 
Prof.  W.  M.  BMr,'Sorm.a.\  Department,  Salem  College,  "W.  Va.,  Nov.  21,1892 

This  book  is  better  adapted  to  our  use  than  any  other  we  have  found.— 
Principal  C.  C.  Bounds,  New  Hampshire  State  Normal  School,  Oct.  12,1892. 

The  volume  is  one  of  decided  value,  and  id  a  miniature  cyclopaedia  ol 
historical  facts  datingfrom  the  Kenaissauce.— iV>?<;  York  ^yorld,A\\Q.21, 1892 

Sensible  in  its  views,  and  correct  and  clear  in  style,  Prof.  Williams's  book 
Is  well  worthy  of  a  place  in  educational  literature.—  The  Critic,  Sept.  10,  l.':02. 

A  book  worthy  to  take  its  place  in  the  teacher's  library  alongside  of 
Quick,  Compayre,  and  Gill. —  Western  School  Journal,  Feb  ,  1893. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  lor  all  ordinary  purposes  Prof.  Williams's 
bouk  is  in  itself  a  much  more  valuable  pedagogical  library  than  could  be 
formed  with  it  omitted.  -American  Journal  of  Education,  Sept.,  1892. 

Throughout  the  book  the  author  shows  good  sense  in  his  judgment  of 
men  and  methods;  and,  what  is  no  small  merit  in  the  present  age,  he  is 
entirely  free  from  'hohhi^s.— Science,  Aug.  26,  1892. 

The  title  of  this  book  can  scarcely  suggest  the  rich  and  variei  interest 
of  the  materials  which  it  includes.  It  suras  up  for  us  the  story  of  educa- 
tional methods  and  systems  in  all  couutries,  from  the  middle  ages  down  to 
the  present  time.— Eeriew  of  lieviews,  Oct.   1892. 

I  have  received  a  copy  of  Williams's  History  of  Modern  Education,  and 
having  read  three  chapters  I  see  it  must  be  added  to  our  library.  Please 
Bend  us  two  copies  more  .—Principal  IF.  E.  Wilson,  R.  I.  State  Normal 
School,  Nov   15,  1892. 

The  author's  style  is  clear  and  readable,  his  criticisms  without  color, 
*  *  and  the  impression  in  our  mind  after  perusal  is  that  the  author  is  not 
only  one  who  yl«oii'.'?,  but  one  whose  thoughts  and  conclusions  are  worthy 
of  respect.— Popvlar  Educator,  Nov  ,  1892. 

It  is  a  wonderful  book  for  conciseness— a  veritable  ?/n/^/?/7«  iw /)a»TO,  and 
still  the  narrative  style  is  so  constantly  maintained  that  it  reads  more  like 
a  story  than  an  encyclopajdia.  It  is  both  in  one.— Principal  0.  Z).  Bobinson, 
Albany  High  School,  March  15, 1893. 

The  outlook  over  the  subject  is  broad,  the  views  in  many  instances  fresh, 
and  the  interpretation  penetrating.  The  work  is  especially  valuable  as 
being  at  once  comprehensive  and  compact,  covering  the  whole  ground, 
with  each  movement  or  phase  of  progress  given  in  its  due  proporiion.- 
Erangetist,  Oct.  20, 1892. 

His  method  of  treating  the  subject  is  eminently  happy.  The  salient  points 
of  the  history  of  education  in  that  period  are  clearly  indicated,  and  the  as- 
cending curve  of  progress  is  sketched  through  them.  Dr.  Williams's  style 
is  delightful.  Every  teacher  will  be  at  od**"  Dleased  and  instructed  by  a 
perusal  of  the  book.— Pi/Wic  Opinion. 


OPINIONS    OF    WILLIAMS'S   HISTORY 

He  has  shown  that  ho  is  a  natural  historian,  for  his  omissions  are  those 
speculations  and  discussions  which  are  too  often  found  in  other  histories 
of  education,  which  add  nothing  to  the  value  of  the  history,  and  only  serve 
to  puff  out  the  matter.  *  *  *  With  such  his.tories  as  Quick's  and  Com- 
payre's,  Williams's  will  have  an  equal  rank, — Education,  Oct.,  1892. 

No  teacher  should  long  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  growth  of  education 
and  of  the  names  and  efforts  of  those  who  have  through  the  years  been 
shaping  our  system  of  schools.  The  author  has  been  successful,  we  think, 
in  selecting  from  the  mass  of  matter  that  which  is  truly  representative. 
The  book  is  interesting  in  its  substance  and  attractive  in  its  makeup  We 
quote  from  it  in  another  portion  of  the  Modeeatoe  that  our  readers  may 
form  some  idea  of  the  style.— J/icA.  Moderator,  Sept.  22,  1892. 

The  :  uthor  has  attempted  to  construct  a  clear,  truthful,  interesting 
narrative,  within  moderate  compass.  To  make  a  wise  selection  from  the 
vast  amount  of  materials  at  his  disposal,  and  to  arrange  it  in  the  best  form, 
was  no  easy  matter.  It  required  a  broad  knowledge  and  comprehensive 
grasp  of  the  whole  subject,  together  with  sound  judgment  and  good  taste 
in  selecting  and  arranging  his  materials.  In  our  judgment  the  author  has 
succeeded  admirably  in  his  undertaking.  We  commend  the  book  most 
heartily.— Prof.  S.  J.  Kirkwood,  in  The  Post  Graduate,  Jan.,  1893. 

Dr.  Williams  has  chosen  to  write  the  history  of  education  in  a  style  inter- 
esting alike  to  the  general  reader  and  to  the  teacher.  Hastily  running 
through  the  story  of  the  early  attempts  in  educational  affairs  he  gives  the 
greater  part  of  his  work  to  recounting  what  has  taken  place  within  this 
century.  The  author  takes  full  cognizance  of  all  the  influences  which  have 
been  exerted  through  the  ages  upon  the  systems  of  education,  and  with  a 
clear  comprehension  of  the  present  status  of  education  demonstrates  the 
results  which  have  come  from  the  focussing  of  different  streams  of  light.— 
Teachers''  World,  Feb.,  1893. 

Dr.  Williams  has  been  throughout  a  close,  discriminating  student  of  edu- 
cational systems,  both  in  their  present  form,  and  in  their  vicissitudes  dur- 
ing the  past  few  centuries.  As  a  result  of  these  two  forces,  he  now  presents 
the  students  of  education  with  an  exceedingly  valuable  contribution  towards 
the  history  of  teaching  and  teachers.  Dr.  Williams  has  been  very  success- 
ful in  securing  a  proper  balance  between  the  different  men  and  movements 
Few  subjects  give  a  better  opporttinity  for  the  believers  in  this  prophet  or 
that  to  extol  him  as  the  one  great  leader.  Just  now  it  has  been  Comenius, 
while  Pestalozzi,  Frrobel,  and  Rousseau  have  never  lacked  over  ardent 
friends.  All  of  these  receive  fair  treatment  in  these  lectures  :  treatment 
which  may  not  entirely  meet  the  ideas  of  this  student  or  that,  yet  which 
always  ensures  a  clear  understanding  of  the  man  and  his  work,  and  the 
opportunity  for  honest,  well-founded  personal  opinions.  It  is  a  book  which 
must  be  on  tSie  shelves  of  every  student  of  education.— New  England  Journal  oj 
Ed'n.  Oct.  20. 1892. 


. TTTF:  SaiTOOL  BULLETTN  rUBLICATTOm ■ 

Helps  in  the  History  of  Education 

1.  An  Outlme  of  the  History  of  Educational  Theories  in  England.  By 
H.T.  Mark.    Cloth,  12m.o,  pp.  139.    $1.25. 

This  work,  published  in  1899,  gives  the  hxtest  views,  with  lulvantapre  of 
the  most  recent  investigations.  Besides  treating  of  Erasmus,  Ascham,  Mul- 
caster,  Comenius,  Locke,  Milton,  Bacon,  Stow,  Lancaster,  Herbert  Spencer, 
and  Sir  Joshua  Fitch,  it  points  out  the  influence  of  men  less  widely  known, 
like  Barclay,  Sir  Thomas  Elyot,  Colet,  Wotton,  Hoole,  William  Webster, 
Lily,  Wolsey,  Cooke,  Petty,  and  others.  There  are  special  chapters  on 
jihysical,  intellectual,  technical,  and  moral  education,  with  appendices  on 
teaching  of  manners,  on  Sturm,  and  on  Locke. 

2.  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Education  in  Prussia  and  England.  By 
James  Donaldson.    Cloth,  12mo,  pp.  185.    $1.00. 

.?.  A  Short  History  of  Education.  By  Oscar  Browning,  edited  by 
Chancellor  W.  H.  Payne.  Cloth,  ]6mo,  pp.  93,  with  39 portraits  and  9  other 
illustrations.     50  cts. 

This  is  a  reprint  of  the  article  on  education  In  the  Encyclopedia  Bri- 
tannica,  with  notes  on  Comenius  and  Bibliography. 

4.  Sketches  from  the  History  of  Education.  By  W.  N.  Hailmann. 
Paper,  8vo,  pp.  39.    20  cts. 

This  treats  particularly  of  Luther,  Bacon,  Pestalozzi,  Girard,  Diester- 
weg,  and  Froebel. 

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nett.    Leatherette,  16mo,  pp.43.    50  cts. 

e.  Elementary  Greek  Education.  By  Fred  II.  Lane.  Leatherette, 
16mo,  pp.  85.    50  cts. 

7.  Port-Royal  Education.  Extracts  from  its  leading  authors,  edited, 
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other  well-known  authors  of  this  famous  institution,  more  influential  in  the 
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H.  History  of  the  Burgh  Schools  of  Scotland.  By  James  Grant.  Cloth, 
8vo,  pp.  571.     $3.00.     These  were  the  original  free  schools  of  the  world. 

.9.  The  History  of  the  High  School  at  Edinburgh.  By  William  Ste- 
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10.  History  of  the  Schools  of  Syracuse ,  N.  Y.  By  Edward  Smith.  Cloth, 
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U.  Teachers' Institutes,  Past  and  Present.  By  James  M.  Milne.  Paper, 
8vo,  pp.  22.    25  cts. 

J?.  History  of  Educational  Journalism  in  the  State  of  New  York.  By 
C.  W.  Bardeen.     Paper,  8vo,  pp.  45.     40  cts. 

13.  Educational  Publications  in  Italy.  By  Piero  Barbera.  Paper, 
8vo   pp.  14.     15  cts.     Written  for  the  Columbian  Exposition. 


THE  SCHOOL  BULLETIN-  PUBLICATIONS ■ 

Biographies  of  Great  Teacliers 

1.  A  Memoir  of  Eager  Axcham,  by  Samuel  Johnson,  LL.D.,  and  selec- 
tions from  the  Life  of  Thomas  Arnold,  by  Dean  Stanley,  with  introduc- 
tions and  Notes  by  James  S.  Carlisle.  16mo,  pp.  252.  Manilla  50  cts. 
Cloth  $1. 

Beside  the  biography  of  Ascham  in  fall  this  volume  contains  selections 
from  "The  Schoolmaster",  with  facsimile  of  the  ancient  title-page.  We 
also  publish  Ascham's  Complete  Works  iu  four  handsome  volumes  at  $5.00. 

From  Stanley's  "Life  of  Arnold"  those  chapters  have  been  taken  which 
refer  to  his  work  as  a  teacher,  and  are  published  without  change. 

2.  John  Amos  Comenius,  Bishop  of  the  Moravians;  his  Life  and  Educa- 
tional Works.    By  S.  S.  Laurie.     16mo,  pp.  232.    Manilla  50  cts.;    Cloth  $1. 

We  publish  also  Comenius's  "Orbis  Pictus",  $2.00,  and  his  portrait,  for 
framing,  $1.00. 

3.  An  Old  Educational  Beformer,  Dr.  Andrew  Bell.  By  J.  M.  D.  Meikle- 
JOHN.     Cloth,  16mo,  pp.  182.     $1.00.     We  have  also  Southey's  Life,  3  vol.,  $10. 

4.  Pestalozzi:  his  Aim  and  Work.  By  Baron  DeGuimps.  Translated 
by  Margaret  Cuthbertson  Crombie.     Cloth,  12mo,  pp.  336.    $1.50. 

We  publish  also  Pestalozzi's  "Letters  on  Early  Education",  $1.00;  and 
"Uow  Gertrude  Teaches  her  Children",  $1.50.    Also  portrait  for  framing,  25c. 

5.  Autobiography  of  Frederick  Froebel.  Translated  and  annoted  by 
Emilie  Michaelis  and  11.  Keatlet  More.     Cloth,  12mo,  pp.  183.    $1.50. 

"lie  writes  so  simply  and  confidentially  that  no  one  can  fail  to  under- 
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.\nierican  youth  for  fathers  and  mothers  to  read  this  book  for  themselves, 
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8.  The  Educational  Labors  of  Henry  Barnard.  By  Will  S.  Monboe. 
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9.  German  Teachers  and  Educators.  By  Henry  Barnard.  Cloth  8vo. 
pp.730.    $3.50.     A  valuable  compendium. 

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character,  and  services  of  Tliomas  II.  Gallaudet.  By  Henry'  Barnard. 
Cloth,  8vo,  pp.  228.     $1.50. 

11.  Primers  of  Pedagogical  Biography.  Chapters  from  Quick's  Educa- 
tional Reformers  published  seperately,  as  follows:  (1)  The  Jesuits,  pp.  39; 
(2)  Comenius,  pp.  25;  (3)  Locke,  pp.  27;  (4)  Rousseau,  pp.  30:  (5)  Basedow, 
pp.  18;  (6)  Jacotot,  pp.  28;  (7)  restalozzi,  pp.  -lO.     Each  10  cts. 

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■THE  SCHOOL  BVLLETIN  PUBLICATTCKS.. 


Jolm  j\mos  Comeriius. 

2.    John  Amos-  Comtrdus,  B'csliop  of  the  ^loraviuiis.  Ids  Life  and  Educational 

Workx.  By  S.  S.  Lauuie.  Iteuding 
Circle  Edition.  C'luth,  16mo,  pp.  272. 
$1.00. 

This  edition  differs  from  those 
hitherto  published  (1)  in  beirifr  in- 
dexed by  liead-lines,  (2)  in  tlie  inser- 
tion of  five  portraits,  and  (3)  in  the 
addition  of  a  bibliography,  witli  fif- 
teen photographic  reprodiictii'ns  oi 
pages  from  early  editions  of  his 
works.  The  core  of  the  book  is  tlic 
account  of  Tlie  Great  Didactic,  papes 
73-1.53,  tlie  best  treatise  on  Method 
ever  published,  at  once  broad,  sound, 
suggestive,  and  practically  helpful.  As  a  contribution  both  to  the  history  of 
education  and  to  its  theories  this  book  occupies  a  unique  place,  and  is  indis- 
pensable in  even  a  small  library  of  teachers'  books. 

S.  The  Orbis  Pictus  nf  John  Anws  Comenius.  Cloth, '^vo,  pp.  232.  $3  00. 
This  beautiful  volume  i^  a  reprint  of  the  English  edition  of  1727,  but  with 
reproduction  of  the  151  copper-plate  illustrations  of  the  original  edition  of  1G58. 
A  copy  of  the  rare  original  commands  a  hundred  dollars,  and  this  reprint 
must  be  considered  a  most  important  contribution  to  pedagogical  literature. 
The  Ortns  Pictus  was  not  only  the  first  book  of  object  lessons,  but  the  first 
text-book  in  general  use,  and  indeed,  as  the  Encyclopcedia  BHtarmica  states, 
''the  first  children's  picture-book." 

The  book  is  a  beautiful  piece  of  work,  and  in  every  way  superior  to 
most  of  the  fac-similes  we  have  so  far  been  presented  with.— A\  Y.  World. 

We  welcome  this  resurrection  of  the  Orbis  Pictus,  which  has  lain  too 
long  in  suspended  animation.  The  master-piece  of  Comenius,  the  prince  of 
European  educators  of  the  17th  centurj',  was  the  greatest  boon  conferred 
on  the  little  ones  in  primary  schools.— Nation. 

The  old  wood  illustrations  are  reproduced  with  absolute  fidelity  by  a 
photographic  process,  and  as  the  text  follows  closely  letter  by  letter  the  old 
text,  the  book  is  substantially  a  copy  of  the  rare  original.— Xi/fmry  World. 
S.     The  Place  of  Co9)ienius  in  the  History  of  Education.    By  Nicuolas  Mur- 
ray Butler.    Paper,  16mo,  pp.  20.    15  cts. 

U.  The  Text- Books  of  Comenius.  By  Wm.  H.  MAX'tt'Eix.  Paper,  8vo,  pp. 
24.     29  Illustrations.    25  cts. 

Everj'one  who  feels  that  he  cannot  afford  that  beautiful  volume,  the 
Orbis  Pictus,  should  invest  a  quarter  in  this,  and  find  out  what  Comenius 
did.— Educational  Courant. 

C.  W.  BAKDEEN,  Publisher,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


UNIVERSITY  or  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


OCT  S  6  1956 


'*^. 


Mi     2 


BBCrC  LD-URt 

JUN  1 6 1982 


AUG  1 2  19^8 


Form  L9-100m-9,'52(A3105)444 


Illilllll 


3  1158  00799 


illi 


lli!llll!ll  llillll         J( 

9  2265       y^ 


O 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    000  797  281 


